The Adam Park Project

Item Information:

Catalogue Number: 15/06/019 Source: TAPP Archaeology Surveys Location: No.15 Adam Park Report No: Report No.14 Artifact Type: Personal Items Production Date: 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Dimensions of Item: Not taken Copyright with The Adam Park Project

Other Description:

Item 15/6/19 was cleaned up to reveal intricate detailing and lettering. The item is the lens of a camera. The lens was identified as being an Agfa Anastigmat although there are other brands that are very similar in design.

Historic Context:

There were only two models which were produced in the 1940’s. These were the Agfa Billy Record 8.8 and Agfa Billy Record 7.7. Both versions were produced between 1933 and 1942. However notably the latter lens is identifiable by the numbering on the bottom ring which reads ‘7.7’ AGFA was the abbreviation for Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation, given in 1873 to a company that had been founded in Berlin in 1867. It produced chemicals for photography. Most famous is the film developer Rodinal, introduced in 1892 and continued for 115 years. When Agfa obtained the Rietzschel camera works in Munich from Bayer in 1925, it badged all Rietzschel products with its Agfa rhombus. In 1926 it introduced the first real Agfa camera, the Standard. In 1927 the name Rietzschel disappeared from the products. In that year the successful Billy camera series was introduced, and Agfa licensed Ansco to manufacture its products for the American market. In 1930 the first Agfa Box camera for 6×9 cm exposures on roll film was produced. In the following year it popularized photography in Germany by dumping the Box 44 for 4 Reichsmark, easily recouping its losses afterwards by selling Agfa 120 roll films. In 1937 it brought out its first camera for 35mm film.