Rare Camera Auctions

Another nice rarity here.

Here’s a complete genuine 1860’s Dubroni wet-plate camera outfit! The camera is the classic original No. 1 model, for 4cm diameter round exposures, with the internal amber glass bottle (not a later ceramic bottle!), fitted with the proper original matching brass Dubroni lens and cap, and the swiveling brass rear panel, with ornate Dubroni lettering, that reveals the red glass preview window. It’s in excellent overall condition, with perfect remarkably crack-free wood body, intact pressure plate springs, the original clasps and hinges, and the proper ground glass. The outfit features the original fitted wood case, the pipette with rubber bulb, another pipette, a tiny box with a supply of glass plates, another tiny box with a supply of ferrotype plates, the rare original Dubroni printing frame, and all seven original Dubroni chemical bottles with stoppers! The Dubroni system, invented by Jules Bourdin of France (Dubroni is an anagram of Bourdin, and the legend states that this anagram was used instead of the family name because Bourdin’s father night not have approved of his son’s little endeavor) was the first “instant picture” system, predating the Polaroid by some eighty years! A blank glass or ferrotype plate was loaded into the back of the camera. The collodion solution, followed by the appropriate silver sensitizing compounds, was poured through the baffled hole in the top of the camera, allowed to flow over the inner surface of the plate, and the excess was siphoned out with the pipette and rubber bulb. The camera was replaced on a tripod, the exposure was made (usually a lengthy time exposure, controlled simply by removing the lens cap), and then processing had to begin before the wet collodion emulsion could dry. The processing and fixing chemicals were introduced through the top and siphoned out in their proper order, and the finished negative was removed from the back when all was done.

Just under $4,000 with half a day to go.