Schultze Photo Equipment Co., New York, NY

 

NPA Camera Variation 2 (made by E.&H.T. Anthony)

 

5 x 7", Serial (or Assembly) No. 15 (on edge of rear standard)

Label on front standard

Patent stamps on rear base rail:
Feb. 20, 1883 (plate holder with hinge on front)
Nov. 11, 1884 (clamp hooks for making the bed rigid)
May 18, 1886 (focusing attachment)
Mch. 27, 1888 (spring back)

 

 

 

 

 

6 ½ x 8 ½", Serial (or Assembly) No. 44 (on rear edge of front standard)

Bottom

Top

Label on front standard

Patent stamps on rear base rail:
Feb. 20, 1883 (plate holder with hinge on front)
Nov. 11, 1884 (clamp hooks for making the bed rigid)
May 18, 1886 (focusing attachment)
Mch. 27, 1888 (spring back)

Anthony "Zephyr" Plate Holder.

 

 

 

 

 

4¼ x 6½", Serial (or Assembly) No. 52 (on edge of rear standard - see photo below).
This camera has hardly spent any time outside of its case, and so retains the light, natural finish, yet to be darkened by exposure to light.  The camera would have looked pretty much like this when new.

Bottom

Top

Label, celluloid, lower part of front standard.  This label is large enough to cover any previous Anthony label holes (see Serial No. 58 label, below).
The label is faded, or was never very dark, but is identical to that on Serial (or Assembly) No. 15, above, and reads: "The Schultze / Photo Equipment Co. / New York"

Four patents, typical on Anthony cameras of the late 1880's - 1900: "Pat. Nov. 11, '84", "Pat. Feb. 20, '83", Pat. May 18, 1886", and "Pat. Mch. 27, '88".

Serial (or Assembly) No. "52", front edge of the rear standard.  An identical number faces it on the edge of the front standard.

Plate Holder - Anthony "Zephyr", so called presumably because of its light weight.
Having hefted quite a few plate holders, I can attest that the weight of the glass plates is about half the weight, regardless of how light the holder is.

A Zephyr plate holder is opened by pulling the metal stirrups at the long edges of the holder out, and pulling the bottom completely off.  The plates were then slid in from the bottom.
This would, since the plates of the era were only sensitive to blue light, take place in a darkroom having a red (usually) lamp.  In the field, red tents would be used as a darkroom.

6 ½ x 8 ½", Serial (or Assembly) No. 58 (on edge of rear standard - see photo below)

Label, metal (lead?), lower part of front standard.  Holes from a previous label (probably Anthony's) are visible at the top.  Two other holes are undoubtedly under the bottom part of the label.

Patents, typical on Anthony NPA model: "Pat. Nov. 11, '84", "Pat. Feb. 20, '83" (looks like '88 but isn't), Pat. May 18, 1886", and "Pat. Mch. 27, '88".

Serial (or Assembly) No. "58".  This one is on the back lower edge of the front standard; there is an identical one facing it on the front edge of the rear standard.

 

 

Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c. 1891-1892
Construction: back focus via push-pull; single swing; reversing by means of a second tripod mount; plywood lens board
Materials: mahogany wood body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: at least 5x7 and 6 ½x8 ½
Notes:

     This New York City company advertised Scovill cameras in its catalogs, but also produced (or had made for it) at least two cameras its own unique design.  Their earliest advertisement appears to be in 1887 and their latest in 1892.

     In this camera, Schultze apparently put its label on an Anthony camera, which is, from stem to stern, the N.P.A. Camera Variation 2, even down to the original Anthony case, which is unique among view camera cases, having a leather handle on the side that slips flat into the metal retainers for storage.

     Schultze-identified cameras have one of two types of labels: 1) dark gray metal, and 2) celluloid.  Whether metal or celluloid, the labels read: "The Schultze Photo Equipment Co.  New York".  The above 5x7" example has the celluloid type label, and the above 6 ½x8 ½ example has the dark gray metal type label.

     This is not the only Anthony model to be so used by Schultze.  The Anthony Champion Variation 1B is also found having a Schultze label.

     The lens in the above example is an unmarked pillbox-type brass barrel lens having insertable stops held into the front of the lens by a retaining ring.  It has a focusing capability in that it has an outer sleeve into which an inner barrel slides.  This focusing arrangement is typical for pillbox-type lenses of the era; what is unique in the Schultze pillbox is that the inner barrel has been metallurgically treated to become black.  It may be oxidized or some other chemical form, but the coating is too thin to have been painted.  This lens can also be seen in the Anthony Champion Variation 1B, 4 ½x6 ½" example.

 

References:
No references under the Schultze name; see N.P.A. Camera Variation 2 for Anthony references.

 

 

 

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