Goerz Artars and Dots

[Curt]

Does anyone know if there is a difference between a Goerz Red Dot Artar and a Goerz Apochromat Artar. The Goerz Red Dot Artar really say: CP Goerz....Apochromat (red paint dot) Artar.
The only difference I can see is a red dot painted between the two words Apochromat and Artar. Why can't a person put a gold or green dot there and call them "gold dot" or "green dot"? Maybe a "purple dot"!
Anyway, is there a difference between these lenses or did the dot get rubbed off?
Curt

 

[Steve Hamley]

IIRC, the Red Dot Artars were coated and the "non-Red Dot" Artars were not. The exception, IIRC, may be some "non-Red Dot" Artars marketed by Burke and James that were coated by them.

Steve

 

[Ole]

I edited the title to make it a little more precise. Goerz lenses are plentiful, and there are many different versions and "flavors" of any one type. They were also made on at least two continents (in different sizes and shapes) over a very long period...

Books could be written, and probably have been.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The dots were added later as a marketing thing, like putting a green line around the edge of the lens barrel. Gold dot and gold rim Dagors, red dot Artars, and blue dot Trigors are of this later vintage, and were all coated, but as Steve mentions, some versions without the dots may have aftermarket coatings, and I believe there were some factory coated Goerz lenses that appeared before they added the dots.

 

[c6h6o3]

They're marvelous lenses, whether coated or not. In certain situations my old Dagor (ca. 1911) yields a much more glowing photograph than my coated Red Dot Artar (ca. 1950).

 

[John Kasaian]

Other differences between the APO and RD are:
1) The RD may be optimised for better performance at distance (or may not!) and

2) The APOs will cost you less on the used market

There are also LD Artars you might want to throw into your Coerz optical alphabet soup!

What matters most to me is that all the Artars I've ever met have been very fine performers.