Here you see a highlight in any collection: the very rare Nicola Perscheid Portrait lens 600mm F5.5. It was made by the famous Nciola Perscheid in cooperation with Emil Busch in the 1920s. Nicola Perscheid was one of the leading Photography artists in Germany, in the year 1892 he was appointed as the court photographer of the kings court in Sachsen.

The Perscheid lens was developed around 1920 in a cooparion with Emil Busch in Germany. It is a soft-focus lens with a wide depth of field, produced by Busch after the specifications of Perscheid. The lens is designed especially for large format portrait photography.

There are a few versions that have been made, ranging from 210mm up to 480mm in focal lenght. This 600mm version is the top of the line and the longest made by Busch. There are no certain numbers, but in the nine year long production run, only a handfull of that 600mm version were ever made.

The focal lenght is 600mm (or 24"). The lens is best used for 11x14 and up to 14x17 work. But im quite sure it will handle formats up to 16x20 and maybe even 20x24. Interestingly the lens is not as heavy as many other lenses with such focal lenghts. I still would advise to use a studio camera setup for it, but it wont be nearly as heavy as many other lenses on your front standard.

The best part about this specimen is actually the condition. There is almost no wear to the black coating overall. The glass is cryspy clear and doesnt even show any cleaning marks at all. The iris is working as good as on the production day of the lens. Besides that, it comes as a complete set, including the flange, the original leather lenscap and even the original box(!) it was sold with.

Ive seen a couple of the Perscheid lenses reapear in auctions in the last 10 years, but i never saw one in this 'near mint' and complete condition!

The last 600mm version was sold in the Leica Auction in November of 2023  (Lot 322) and the hammer price was 6K. The condition was not nearly as good as of this speciment, not to mention that you would add auction fees and import to this price in the end.

height: 14.5cm
width: 12cm
weight: 2300gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

EU* - 60 eur
Worldwide - 150 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)

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.