Nauticals

Welcome to Rare Antiques Collectibles Memorabilia.

Nauticals or maritime objects are hardly a single subject more like a dozen or so. take bosuns' pipes for example.

these were especially designed high pitch whistle that could be heard above the roar of a raging sea. they were developed somewhere around 1650 and were usually made of brass, copper varnished or painted to prevent salt-water corrosion.

some later ones were fashioned in pure silver. bosuns' pipes are not particularly cheap, but you can build up a collection at reasonable prices if you go for 1900-1920 electro plated models.

crested crockery- is another worthwhile collectable. most shipping lines and large liners had and still have crested crockery and this is enthusiastically collected.

If you haven't have the space or inclination for complete sets of crockery, you can still build up a worthwhile collection of plates or mugs.

You might prefer maritime ephemera. This is a fascinating branch of nauticals which includes travel tickets, bills of lading, menus, posters etc.

Collectibles with a particular nautical flavor are navigation instruments. these include sextants, parallel rulers ,compasses etc.

iIdon't think you'll find many bargain basement sextants because they are not only coveted by collectors many people with money to burn buy the brass variety as decorative items. I remember in high school i used to hang out at my classmates's house, her father was captain of a local shipping liner, there hung on the wall a very prominent ship's navigating wheel serve as the focal point of decoration in their living room.

And i used to marvel at the idea that the decoration of their living room had something to do with the owner's occupation.

If you want to build up such a collection at a reasonable price go for the basic chartwork navigation instruments. This include roller parallel, extending leg rulers, dividers, station pointers, chart magnifiers and navigational set squares. these "tools of the trade" are often overlooked among more exotic goods, but the very essence of navigation will be more sought after in the near future.

One of the most fascinating nautical collectibles is scrimshaw also known as scrimshouting, scrimshandy or just plain scrim- the sailor's art. basically, it consists of engraved or carved materials such as whalebone, walrus, tusk, shell etc. fashioned by sailors with the point of a knife, nail or other sharp instrument.

Finally there are the real prize pieces for collectors-the ship's helm and bell. you certainly won't find any bargains in this direction for they are wildly sought after.

However if divers find a wreck, they keep an eye out for the helm and bell. after a long submersion the helm is normally pretty grotty because the wood has rotted, but the bell usually made from marine brass can often be brought back to as new condition.

The hydrographic department of the admiralty has lists of something like 60,000 wrecks that have sunk around britain alone the last century. i don't suppose divers have visited more than one per cent of those wrecks just think about how many helms and bells that are awaiting collection.

Remember for all your collecting ideas always drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and Memorabilia.

tags:
helm and bell , antique sextants, antique compass

Camera Lenses

Pictures show different types of early camera lenses .

Welcome to Rare Antiques Collectibles Memorabilia.

The earliest camera lenses are particularly attractive with highly polished brass mounts and impressive waterhouse stops or rotating diaphragms.They are also extremely practical because with the aid of bellows attachment or extension tubes, they can be used on almost any modern single lens reflex camera.

Camera enthusiasts are of course always on the lookout for such goodies which can still be found under a pile of bric-a-brac in many junk shops.

Sometimes you will come across an old camera that has been damaged beyond repair. don't ignore it- the lens might be in perfect condition. If you ever come across such a specimen and find the lens easily detachable, whatever you do don't throw the camera away, no matter how damaged because the body can tell the historian much about the lens, period etc.

Very early lenses comprised a single meniscus lens, such as the one developed by W.H. Woolaston around 1812. However this was just before the invention of photography and was used in examples of the camera obscura.

One of the pioneers of phtography was daguerre and the first photographs he took used a doublet lens made by c.l. chavalier in 1830.This particualr design was improved by thomas grubb.

The first lens to be calculated by a mathematician was a portrait lens designed by j.petzval in 1840. this was improved upon by h.zincke in 1870.the petzval portrait lens is worth looking out for, because it was frequently set in large, cumbersome mount and for this reason is often overlooked.

The next major development was the rectilinear lens. but none of this lenses could be improved very much because of the constrictions imposed by the limitations of the glass of the day.

However in the latter part of the nineteenth century new types of glass were devloped and this led to P. Rudolph to design the fisrt anastigmat.these were called protars. the anastigmat can fairly be called the fisrt photographic lens of the modern type.

Apart from those i mentioned above, lenses woth looking out for are Steinheil's Periscope , H.W.Lee's optic merte's biotar and there are many more.

A basic lens will invariably have an aperture. This may be fixed as in the earliest lenses; waterhouse stops; arotating diaphragm( perforated discs); or the now universal iris diaphragm. You could specialize in lenses with specific apertures.

On the other hand, there's a lot of investment mileage in lens shutters. at one time there were literally dozens of types of shutter, ranging from simple spring and leaf to complicated pneumatic tubes and plungers. all of them are increasing interest to collectors.

Remember for all your collecting ideas always drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and Memorabilia.
tag:
camera lenses

Cameras

pictures show a bellow camera model and an old eastman kodak model.

Welcome to Rare Antiques Collectibles Memorabilia.

Old cameras are some of the most attractive scientific instruments, fashioned from mahogany and other exotic woods, with detailed joints and exquisite brass fittings. Some people just get a sheer joy of waxing and polishing the brasswork.

Early camers used glass plates for negatives and these plates required plate holders. If you get the chance to buy an old plate camera, ask about the plate holders. A plate camera with plate holder is much more valuable than the camera on its own.

The earliest camera were large and cumbersome and were without bellows. they usually consisted of two wooden boxes one sliding into the other. Dating from before 1840 such specimens could cost you you a years' salary today, if in good condition.


Bellow cameras came later but these are still expensive. Although early bellow camers were made in several sizes, negative or plate format, the smaller camera fetch pproportionately better prices but this is only relative virtually all early cameras are now quite expensive.

You need lines of research although there are books on the subject of old cameras they are rarely comprehensive. By far the best source of information is old photgraphic magazines - a case of advertising documenting history.

You might fancy collecting eastman kodak cameras from the earliest models right up to today's.

Between the wars cameras offer plenty of scope.

Remember for all your collecting ideas always drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and Memorabilia.