# The rescue



## Dany (Jul 22, 2016)

Found during plumbing works wrapped in a bag under an heap of coal, this French jumelle type camera has been offered to me.
As you can see, it was not in mint condition.






The lens is a Zeiss Krauss  with a number which allowed me to date it between 1895 and 1900
I immediately felt that this camera deserved to be rescued.
After a deep and long refurbishing  ( cleaning, painting works, leather repairing) I have now a more decent camera with a working shutter.





I am now trying to identify it .


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## tirediron (Jul 22, 2016)

Nice; good job.  What film does this use?


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## jcdeboever (Jul 22, 2016)

That is one handsome camera.


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## annamaria (Jul 22, 2016)

Did a really nice job on it.  I wonder what history it has, such as who was the person who used it and what family portraits came out of it.  I think it would be cool to find out.  Nice camera. 


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## jcdeboever (Jul 22, 2016)

annamaria said:


> Did a really nice job on it.  I wonder what history it has, such as who was the person who used it and what family portraits came out of it.  I think it would be cool to find out.  Nice camera.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



Would have been really cool if it had film in it that could be developed.


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## jcdeboever (Jul 22, 2016)

http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/camera-2853-Soulé.html


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## dxqcanada (Jul 22, 2016)

Great clean up job !!


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## annamaria (Jul 22, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> annamaria said:
> 
> 
> > Did a really nice job on it.  I wonder what history it has, such as who was the person who used it and what family portraits came out of it.  I think it would be cool to find out.  Nice camera.
> ...



Would be ultra cool!


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## Dany (Jul 23, 2016)

No film in this camera but plates stored in the magazine at the rear.
The link to the "Jumelle Soulé" is interesting (similar lens and finder).
Soulé was a wood and brass camera manufacturer located in the south of France.
A logo is engraved on the front plate suporting the lens near the shutter cocking knob
Probably because of erosion, only  a part of it is readible.
The logo shows an animal ( eagle?) on top of a globe and a writing starting with "EX and terminating with "OR" ("O" is not certain).
Below the globe the word "DEPOSEE" means "registred" in French
We could guess the name "Excelsior"
I did not find any such camera in my books (including the McK)


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## jcdeboever (Jul 23, 2016)

Dany said:


> No film in this camera but plates stored in the magazine at the rear.
> The link to the "Jumelle Soulé" is interesting (similar lens and finder).
> Soulé was a wood and brass camera manufacturer located in the south of France.
> A logo is engraved on the front plate suporting the lens near the shutter cocking knob
> ...


Maybe email that guy in the link I provided? I know it wasn't the same but looked very similar.


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## Dany (Jul 23, 2016)

Thank you jcdeboever. The link goes to a French website well known to me and which, today, gives information about 11,109  vintage cameras and many photo accessories ( including photos, specification sheets, scans of catalogs etc.)

Welcome to Vintage cameras collection by Sylvain Halgand

I am personally involved (among many others forming a team) in the development of this website.
This site has also a very active forum (with a section dedicated to collectors not speaking French).
I will create an "identification request" thread in the next days in this Forum.


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## webestang64 (Jul 25, 2016)

Wonderful job bringing this one back from the brink!


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## jcdeboever (Jul 25, 2016)

Dany said:


> Thank you jcdeboever. The link goes to a French website well known to me and which, today, gives information about 11,109  vintage cameras and many photo accessories ( including photos, specification sheets, scans of catalogs etc.)
> 
> Welcome to Vintage cameras collection by Sylvain Halgand
> 
> ...



I had a feeling you were on that. With all your cool collecting, it only makes perfect sense.


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## Dany (Aug 20, 2016)

Thank you so much for your interest on this.
The manufacturer and model of this camera have been finally determined with a good probability.
First of all, it is confirmed that the model name is "Excelsior".
The camera could have been engineered by Mr Linder for a French company called Chautard and produced circa 1898-99.
Excelsior name has also be registred by Chautard for photographic plates.
Very probably, only a small number of this camera has been produced.


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## jcdeboever (Aug 20, 2016)

Dany said:


> Thank you so much for your interest on this.
> The manufacturer and model of this camera have been finally determined with a good probability.
> First of all, it is confirmed that the model name is "Excelsior".
> The camera could have been engineered by Mr Linder for a French company called Chautard and produced circa 1898-99.
> ...


That is fantastic and interesting. Thank you so much for the follow up. Great work! [emoji41]


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