Guess I should have cleaned her up before I photographed with the brutal modern digi cam.
Well, brutal and modern unrealistic wirey contrast is what you will never get from a Heliar lens. And that's why we love them! Heliar's are the Bailey's Irish Cream of camera lenses! You just dip your tongue into the smoothness.
Oh, they can be crisp if they need to be, stopped down, but the lovely f4.5 bokeh is what they're famous for. 18CM is a great size for 4X5. 15cm covers, but is stingy with movements on 4X5, where 18cm has a generous reserve.
The Sunken mount version was probably for a folding camera, maybe even a graflex. It gives a nice smooth flat frontal appearance with all the business happening behind the lens board. The retainer is present. The 2 little knobs that stick up are for aperture control. One of them is decidedly non-original, but works fine. Glass is exc, and the original press-in cap, velvet lined, is present. $245 includes shipping in USA