Gandolfi

[redrik53]

Hi,
I have a beautiful 8x6 Gandolfi with a Taylor-Hobson cooke
Primoplane 7" lens, anyone have any idea of what it might
be worth ?, cheers Rik.

 

[Ian Grant]

Welcome to APUG Rik. It's old and wooden so worthless. I'll take it off your hands . . . . .

Of course it's worth quite a reasonable amount, and it'll be a Whole Plate version, that's 6½"x8½". As it's got the original Cooke lens it's worth a bit more. Putting a value on it is quite difficult but I'd gues a minimum value is about £800 /$1600.

Both Taylor, Taylor Hobson -the optical division is now separate and now renamedas Cooke, and Gandolfi are still manufacturing lenses & cameras. The Gandolfi website is worth visiting. They often sell older cameras like yours.

Ian

 

[redrik53]

Thanks for the welcome Ian,
and thanks for the info, we were still using this in the 70's, been wrapped up in the
cupboard for 30yrs ! (I also have a gandolfi copying camera & a gandolfi tripod)
cheers Ian,

 

[Ian Grant]

My experience with a Gandolfi tripod isn't good. The locking mechanism on the head is a very poor design and my 10x8 Agfa Ansco isn't safe on it, it's too heavy.

I think Gandofi cameras became rather over hyped because they were the only UK company to continue manufacturing wooden field cameras etc through the 60's, 70's and 80's and as consequence gained a mythical reputation.

Of course Sir Kenneth Corfield revitalised the company for a time, but who knows what the long term future holds now.

Ian

 

[Ole]

I'm a bit surprised at your experience with the tripod - my 24x30cm camera is perfectly secure on mine, even with a 640mm Aplanat cantilevered off the front!

 

[df cardwell]

My Gandolfi Minor tripod, in lovely black finish, has a permanent resident,
a Graflex 4x5 Super D.

redrik, your Gandolfi is the perfect size for making palladium prints !

 

[redrik53]

Thanks for that info df, cheers.

 

[gandolfi]

I have an old full plate Gandolfi (much older than yours).

I'd love to have the one you have! it looks so fine, and the size is beautiful.

I don't think the price mentioned by Ian is far off..

I have an 8x10 version with estras, and it cost me around 4000$ (20 years ago).

gotta love this camera! maybe Ian is right about the hype, but I have never worked with a better camera! not as a technical camera, but as a really sturdy, reliable LF camera.

And I have never seen a more beautiful camera either....

 

[Ian Grant]

I seem to remember a poem . . . . .

"You are old, Gandolfi," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?

"In my youth," Gandolfi replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Your as old as the camera you lust after . . . . . . . well perhaps hoping your closer to half its age !!!!

Apologies for re-writing, changing the odd words, a photographers poem

Ian

 

[davidjt]

Hi Ian, I have one too - bought on the great auction site within the last 6 mths and came with a 5x4 reducing back and a couple of lens boards. Key to value I think is whether you have any film holders and how many ! I paid £750. I have really struggled to source holders that fit well as they need to be the shallower type. I have 2 old Koronas (16mm thick) now that fit perfectly but all the glass plate ones are too thick (19mm thick). Having them made is $300 each ! So if you have a few and would part with one or two....
What I have done is buy an old wooden 10x8 to 5x7 reducing back (Burke & James) and machine it down to fit the Gandolfi which looks like a good compromise solution. Geert in Belgium supplies nice replacement GG up to modern standards and is a huge improvement on the one that came with the camera (Dead Link Removed) . Am also in the process of making a linhof plate holder for the front, first prototype is a bit heath robinson.

They are nice cameras but I miss one or two of the refinements on the Ebony that I have - mainly certainty of alignment and lack of spirit levels but they are nits really.

Best regards
Dave

www.davidtolcher.co.uk