Old Enlarger for sale

[George Collier]

I saw what I think I remember as a Federal Model 219 last weekend in a consignment type shop in Springfield, VA, just south of Washington DC.
Looked like it was made for up to 6 x 6cm, very tallish head (like Hoss Cartright's hat used to be - who remembers?). Brown textured (parkerized?) finish in pretty good shape, complete with bakalite on/off switch. I don't remember about the neg carriers, and didn't look under the hood, but if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll check it out, or if you are near there, pm me and I'll tell you where it is.
Oh, yeah, $60 US.

 

[fschifano]

I had an old Federal many years ago. My uncle gave it to me after he upgraded his enlarger. Made in Brooklyn, NY it was. I used it for about a year while I saved up for a better machine, a Durst J35. Anyway, these things aren't worth much now except as curiosities. There is no provision for VC filters unless you want to rig something up for under the lens filters. Negative carriers are darned near impossible to find too. Again, you'd need to cobble something together. For that price, there are many better enlargers available on the used market.

 

[George Collier]

I agree, my post was mostly in case there was a collector out there.

 

[fschifano]

I guess so. I forget sometimes that there are collectors of everything. Why, I just learned that there are collectors of antique electric meters.

 

[ic-racer]

Curious that there are many people who collect cameras, but the only collector enlargers I know about would be submin (Minox, etc) or perhaps Leitz. Perhaps someone will show me wrong here and post a link to an "Enlarger Collection" but I suspect it is a quite rare thing. (Not counting multiple usable enlargers in the darkroom).