Lancaster Amateur

J. Lancaster & Sons
Birmingham, England
ca. 1890s

J. Lancaster & Sons was an enormously prolific and successful maker of cameras, lenses, and shutters throughout the latter quarter of the 19th century. The Amateur was a quarter plate camera, that as the name suggests, was directed toward the growing amateur market. It features a disctinctive wooden shield on the front lens board and had a simple Lancaster brass lens. They are considered rare, given that for every fifty or so Instantographs that one sees, you might see one. This example is in stunning original condition.