Eastman Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie.
Serial Number: 836222.
Folding Autographic Brownie.
Patent Date on Lens: 1913.
Kodak Ballbearing Shutter.
Although most Kodak Brownies were box cameras, several different folding Brownies were also made.
They were smaller than the box cameras and thus more portable, but also more expensive.
From around 1914 the Autographic Brownies were introduced. They had a special and innovative feature, one could write comments on the film after each photo was taken. To facilitate this, the cameras came with a metal stylus and a small door at the back of the camera that allowed access to the paper-backed film roll.
The camera needed to be loaded with special Autographic film, which had a thinner paper carrier but had a layer of carbon paper in-between the film and the paper. After inscribing the film with the stylus, it needed to be exposed to light for about 5 seconds.
The written text would then appear on the developed negatives. Although the feature did not appear to be very popular, as little Autographic films with engravings are known to exist, at least a million folding Brownies were made up to 1926, when they were mostly phased out.
A wide range of models existed covering a variety of film formats. Like the box Brownie, the No 2 Folding Brownie took the currently still available 120 roll film. It started production in September 1915.
Early production had a rectangular body, but it received rounded edges from January 1917.
Several varieties of the Autographic door existed (see Kodak Classics website above). The camera came with either a simple meniscus lens or a better Rectilinear lens.
The shutter was a ball bearing model with 1/25, 1/50, B and T settings, whereas later production had a Kodex shutter. .
A very rare camera indeed.
Condition: Very Good, all parts intact and in good order.
Price: R 595.00 Inc Vat.
