Photosphere
Compagnie Francaise de Photographie
Paris, France
ca.  1889

How can you not love a camera as whimsically-designed and sturdy as the Photosphere? Invented by Conti and manufactured by Compagnie Francaise de Photographie, the Photosphere was made of pre-tarnished silver-plated brass.  It was a rigid-bodied camera for single exposures on 9 x 12 cm dry plates and came with either a metal plate magazine or double wooden plate holders.  The lens was a periscopic 95mm f/13, and the hemispherical part of the bell-shaped front housed a spring-powered shutter.