E. & H.T. Anthony

Champion Equipment, Variation 3 (c. 1900-1906)

Anthony Supplement, 16 April 1900, p. 3

6x8

Date Introduced: 16 April 1900 in a paste in supplement to the 1899 catalog; Years Manufactured: 1900-c.1906
Construction: rear focus via push-pull; single swing; reverse by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base track; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: #1¾B=5x7; #2B=5x8; #7B=6½x8½; #8B=8x10
Notes:

     The Champion Variation 3 is one of a number of cameras offered by various manufacturers that are nearly identical:

1) a camera advertised as Jas. H. Smith's Universal View and Portrait Camera. 

2) a camera, along with a rather too-large studio tripod (remember, this is a small 5x7 camera) that was marketed on p. 18 of the Jas. H. Smith 1901 catalog as the Globe Home Portrait Outfit. 

3) the Complete Perfection Viewing Outfit, advertised in the 1902 Sears Catalog, even down to the Sears, Roebuck Monarch lens (top engraving).  Prior to the 1907 switch to Conley, Sears contracted with various manufacturers, including the Rochester Optical group of companies and the Century Camera Co.  The Sears cameras of this era, whatever the manufacturer, bore the brand name Seroco (ever so cutely derived from the first letters of Sears, Roebuck & Co.).  The Sears engraving, like the Smith, does not show the wooden piece that holds the Rochester celluloid tag.

4) the Anthony & Scovill Champion Variation 3.

5) the Anthony & Scovill NPA Variation 4.

6) the Rochester Optical Co. Special.

     The only differences between the labeled Rochester Optical camera and the three nearly identical cameras is in the shape or omission of the horizontal non-structural wooden trim between the verticals of the front standard, or, in the case of the NPA, the wood finish.

     Since it is almost identical (except for finish) to the Anthony & Scovill NPA Variation 4, it is assumed that the camera was actually assembled at the Anthony & Scovill factory, and the other labels or advertised nearly identical cameras were as result of other companies purchasing the Champion Variation 3 for re-sale.

References:
16 April 1900 Supplement to Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Equipments and Materials for Amateurs, E. & H.T. Anthony & Co., New York, NY, p. 3
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Equipments and Materials for Amateurs, The Anthony & Scovill Co., New York, NY, June, 1901, p. 28-29
Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of Photographic Apparatus, Anthony & Scovill Co. (New York, NY), 1903, p. 62

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