Thornton Pickard 4x5??

Whiteymorange · Dec 22, 2014

I have just come into 4 double dark holders that are classic Thornton Pickardhinged mahogany, ivory number buttons, with captive tambour dark slides and metal separator between the plates. I assumed they were half-plate holders, but my measurements make them just right for 4x5, not big enough for any of the "half-plate" sizes that are bandied about on the web- even the American one. Did TP ever make something for the American market in 4x5?

Two23 · Dec 22, 2014

Not that I know of. Do the holders actually say Thornton Pickard? A lot of manufacturers made very similar appearing holders.

Kent in SD

Dan Fromm · Dec 23, 2014

Channing & Dunn mention a number of 4x5 T-P cameras, starting with the Amber.

One of the last of the Amber models was a new size of 5 x 4 inch, introduced in 1898.

Two23 · Dec 23, 2014

Well, sure enough!

http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_C365.html

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/105069-thornton-pickard-new-folding-ruby-no

Kent in SD

Ian Grant · Dec 23, 2014

Most common are the TP Ruby reflex cameras quarter plate, 5x4, half plate, nothing specific for the US market though.

Thornton licensed some of his \patents to Eastman Kodak, he'd left TP by then, most notably the film pack and holder made for many years initially license to a company Kodak took over, also Kodak's first colour film.

Ian

Whiteymorange · Dec 23, 2014

Thanks, everyone. You have to love APUG.

Dan Fromm · Dec 23, 2014

Whiteymorange said:
Thanks, everyone. You have to love APUG.

Oy! APUG is neither here nor there. Some of APUG's regular posters can tell shoe polish from excrement, others can't. The site has nothing to do with either. No comment on either's antecedents.

gleaf · Dec 23, 2014

You can tell them apart by the finish on their shoes! ( -;

Ian Grant · Dec 24, 2014

There's a lot of so called Thornton Pickard cameras for sale on Ebay that didn't come from Thornton Pickard or their sub-contractors, usually the bodies have no name plates but they have a TP roller shutter fitted to the lens board. In the 1890's most British field cameras were fitted from new with TP roller blind shutters so some sellers assume their camera is also a Thornton Pickard. In fact TP cameras use quite distinctive locking nuts instead of the usual wheel nuts, these were used first by Billcliffe a cabinet makers and early camera manufacturer who was their main sub-contractor.

Even leading sites on early cameras can be wrong, one Dallmeyer camera mentioned as being made by TP is in fact a re-branded Houghton Ensign. Sometimes the only way of telling is owning a camera and very closely inspection of the parts and in this case the shutter mechanism.

Ian

Dan Fromm · Dec 24, 2014

gleaf said:
You can tell them apart by the finish on their shoes! ( -;

Right. The smell test still works.

Ian Grant · Dec 24, 2014

Dan Fromm said:
Right. The smell test still works.

You should clean your shoes better in the future. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dan Fromm · Dec 24, 2014

Ian its been a while since I visited a cow pasture or collected fish downstream from a pig farm. I remember two sites in Costa Rica near pig farms. The farms were fragrant and so were the streams. This March I found a similarly smelly stream in Trinidad. No pigs nearby but there was a bat colony under the bridge. The smell could have been bat guano.

Thornton Pickard 4x5??

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