History: The Cone Centralisateur lens design (which is a petzval design with a larger back element to avoid reflections), is absolutely famous and sought after in the late 19th century and even more today. It was the flagship lens for Jamins workshop in the early 1850ies and later Darlots in the 1860ies in Paris. It offered better optical quality then most of his rivals, but also a possibility to it as a portrait (portrait mode) lens and also as a landscape lens (paysage). Even though its a a petzval design, you will see a slight difference to other portrait petzvals from that time. The Cone Centralisateur lenses have this cenrtain 'something' to their image, which is hard to grasp, but many people are looking for.

The engraving reads:

'ANCne Mon JAMIN - DARLOT, St OPTn Bte S.G.D.C. - 14 r. Chapon Paris'

This dates the lens back in the early 1862-63, just right after Darlot took over Jamins workshop and still included his name in the engraving.

Condition: This brass beauty comes in a collectors condition! The brass shows only light wear and still a warm patina, the rack & pinion mechanism seems complete, though not really working. The glass is in a good condition mostly, there is one feint circular cleaning mark on the front, which wont affect the image quality. The lens shows now haze or fungus and performs very sharp on the groundglass.

With its fast open aperture of F4 and a focal lengh of 160mm (or almost 6.5"), this lens will work best for 4x5 formats.

In landscape mode it will have an estimated focal lenght of 320mm, covering huge ULF formats like 10" x 12" !

It comes with a fitting flange, the original brass Lenscap and even one original washer stop!

Collectors note: the smaller Cone Centralisateurs like that were made only in small numbers, and there are less out there today, then the larger formats, like the 220mm or the 300mm.

height: 11cm
width: 6cm
weight: 350gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 20 eur
EU - 30 eur
Worldwide - 80 eur

*(the site offers only 2 shipping variations, DE and worldwide. buyers from EU please either contact me beforehand for a reduced EU cost, or after buying so i can send a refund over the difference)

** the high cost is due the high insurance value

Importent Note: This item comes from my private collection and is around 100 years old (antique). I try my best to describe all the faults and major damage which are relevant for the function of this item. But the actuall item can show signs of wear and also some cosmetic blemishes/damage which is not described in the auction text! When buying this item the buyer agrees to this terms.