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 View Camera was a relatively inexpensive camera manufactured for the amateur photographer. It was made in one form or another for at least 19 years beginning in 1887.
There are no small number of Variations, generally distinguished by the following features:
Champion Variation 1
has a tilt-down ground glass frame, and is split here into three
sub-variations.
Champion Variation 1A has the tilt-down ground glass frame and
its swing hardware knob built into the top hardware piece. This is
the same camera as
Anthony's
Amateur Equipment No. 2B., which describes a handsomely finished
camera (but not mahogany) having a single swing, and the engraving
illustrates the top hardware that combines a ground glass clip with the
swing set thumbscrew. It is possible that this variation was never
called Champion - that the switch of the name from Amateur
Equipment No. 2B to Champion coincided with the construction
change from Variation 1A to Variation 1B. It is
placed here to emphasize the continuity of Anthony's version of an
inexpensive, back focus, square bellows camera.
Champion Variation 1B has the tilt-down ground glass frame, but
its swing knob is on the right side bottom of the rear standard.
It has a normal thumbscrew to make the bed rigid.
Champion Variation 1C has the tilt-down ground glass frame, and
the swing knob on the right bottom, but has a large brass plate to make
the bed rigid.
Champion Variation 2 has a clunky-profile spring-held ground glass frame / spring back.
Champion Variation 3 has a flat-profile spring-held ground glass frame / spring back
Champion Variation 4 has the open front style adopted in April, 1900.
Relationship
between the Champion and the NPA Camera
The Champion looks almost
identical to the more expensive
NPA
Camera,
so much so
that the models are easily mistaken. Both appear to have been made
by a Scovill Mfg. Co. camera factory in Connecticut rather than by the
New York American Optical factory, which was owned by Scovill and
manufactured their more expensive models. Generally, the
Champion is made from less expensive wood and hardware, and is less
expensively fitted and finished than is the NPA Camera. The
two models might be expected to be parallel to each other in variations
and time frame. However, this is not exactly the case. In
order to completely delineate the difference between the Champion
and the NPA Camera over time, the following table has been
developed, each row of which shows a feature or construction of one of
the models, an example photograph illustrating the feature or
construction, and the years it occurred in each model, if any.
Feature / Construction in the Champion and NPA Camera Models vs. Year
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
Photographic Goods 1842-1904, The Anthony and Scovill
Co., (New York, NY), 1904, Catalog C, p.3
Photographic Catalogue, The Anthony and Scovill Co., (Binghamton,
NY), 1906, p.45