Six-Lens Sliding Box Wet Plate

ca. 1860s - 1870s
Maker Unknown

Ex-collection Thom Bundza

Of all of the multi-lens cameras that were made, perhaps the six-lens is the rarest.  This sliding box-in-box camera was likely manufactured in England due to its walnut construction or perhaps America ca. 1860s.  There is no maker’s mark on the camera which was not unusual during this period.  It is possibly a transitional camera from the wet plate to the dry plate eras of photography.  It has six brass lenses and is focused by sliding one wood box inside another.  Viewing the image was done on the rear ground glass.

This camera was used to create six carte-de-visite photographs at one time, typically for calling cards as the name suggests.