auctions as economic history

[nikkortorokkor]

Part of my interest in old cameras is definitely sentimental & bordering on the antiquarian as we say in the history trade, but I like to think that these shiny little glass and chrome boxes pique some kind of deeper professional interest. I think that it is fare to say that it is a rare camera nut who doesn't have some thought or opinion on the various trends, economic, social and even diplomatic, that have shaped the camera industry.

Watching internet auctions gives us a little window into those trends, one that I'd like to follow up on, should I ever find the time and sources. One can gain impressions of what was fashionable, what ideas flew and what didn't just by monitoring what comes up in auction. How many Kodak disks do you see on Ebay?

I've noticed something interesting here in New Zealand. There is always a Braun Paxette of some description haunting the virtual halls of Trade Me (our local online auction house) and the same goes for Kodak Retinettes. But if I search Retina: nada, nothing, nil, zip! I never see any of the incredibly popular 'Serious Kodak' in Downunder auctions.

ergo, Braun had an agressive agent in NZ that sucessfully pushed a lot of the little Nurnberg wonders. Kodak, of course, must have had a very heavy presence in the film and box camera market, and obviously moved a fair number of the middling quality Retinettes. But they either couldn't shift the higher-end Retina, or didn't even bother to import it.

It'd be interesting to find out for sure.

[paulatukcamera]

Two thoughts:

Firstly:
In the immediate post war period there were strict controls on the importation of German & Japanese cameras into the UK.
Perhaps the same was true of NZ?

Almost no Japanese cameras prior to 1960 and only German ones less than about £30 before that. So Retinettes were in and Retinas out!
All the Paxettes were in the lower price ranges so were very popular here. Ditto Ilford Sportman (Dacora Dignettes elsewhere)

Secondly

Sales volume. The cameras you mention were very popular because they were comparatively cheap. Probably outsold the dearer ones 50:1 so their presence on eBay in great numbers is not surprising.

Give you an instance:
In 1960 Dixons (a pure camera shop chain in those days) brought in the Beauty Lightomatic 111 and sold it for £33! Killed the market stone dead for a lot of Silettes, Continas, Retinas & Vitos whose makers charged £60+ for a rangefinder camera with a f2.8 lens (let alone an f1.8!) and a coupled meter.

Later that year the Canonet arrived for £50 and delivered the final blow to German supremacy! Here was a genuinely good camera with an excellent lens all for 2/3rds of price of the German equivalent.

Ironically, Beauty as a manufacturer only lasted a couple of years in the face of intense competition from Canon, Fuji & Minolta

Paul

[John Farrell]

There is a Retina 1a in expired auctions on Trademe.

Canonettes must have been very popular in New Zealand - there are usually 2 or more being sold at any time.

If you wanted to find out about the history of Kodak cameras in New Zealand, Chris Sherlock may be able to help you.

homepages.ihug.co.nz/~Srawhiti/index.html

[PeterW]

Michael and Paul,

Interesting observations from both of you.

I think Paul may be right about why there are more Retinettes than Retinas about in the UK, butI've no idea why Retinas are seldom seen in NZ.

I wondered, perhaps, if the shortage of Retinas compared with Retinettes there might have something to do with production figures, so I did a quick check in Brian Coe's Kodak book.

A rough count gave:

Retina Reflex 783,000
Other Retinas, all models, 1,434,000
Retinettes, all models, 1,514,000

Ignore the Reflex, and there's only about 100,000 difference between Retinas and Retinettes, so that idea didn't wash.

Chicken feed, I know, compared with the 70,000,000 Instamatic 126 cameras that poured out of Kodak's US plants. But Retinas and Retinettes all came from one not over-large factory in Stuttgart, in Germany. IMHO Retinettes are quite well made, particularly the early folding models, but the plating on the front of the earlier post-war solid-bodied models isn't very good, and wears off quite quickly. Maybe because of shortages of some metals in Germany at that time?

When he gets back from holiday you might like to have a word with a fellow New Zealander Chris Sherlock. He's on holiday in Europe till the end of October, so give him a chance after that to catch up on things.

Chris trained as a technician with Kodak in Wellington in the 1970s, and now lives in Dunedin in the South Island. He collects mainly Retinas and Retinettes, and runs a Retina repair service.

Chris is a very nice and helpful person. He and I have exchanged a few emails over the years about Retinas and other cameras. He may have a few ideas about why Retinas are elusive in NZ.

His website, and well worth a look, is rawhiti.tripod.com/index.html

PeterW

[PeterW]

Sorry, Johnf.

I didn't intentionally duplicate your link to Chris Sherlock. You must have posted it while I was writing my reply and adding up production figures in Brian Coe's book.

PeterW

[nikkortorokkor]

Well, wouldn't you know it.

Today I was in the city and I saw an antique opposite the office I was visiting. It was a deco kind of shop situated in the bottom of a nice deco hotel (where my paternal grandfather once lived, incidentally) and so I stuck my head round the door and asked 'got any old cameras?' 'Yes' the owner replied, and pulled out a Retina and a folding Vito! Murphy's law.

Thanks for all the thoughts and advice on the topic.

Paul, you are right. Our strict import controls were on everything from everywhere! Well almost. We had plenty of good wholesome food, but luxury imports were tightly restricted and licensed. I have been told that import licenses were licenses to print money that would be doled out by government officials in bouts of cronyism and bought up by sharp operators operating in much the same way as patent czars. There might have been a price limit too, like in the UK.

All this got particularly bad after the 1958 'black budget' when the Labour government treasurer sought to fix a woeful balance of payments without cutting government spending. Even in the early nineteen-eighties I remember New Zealanders flying up to the Australian Gold Coast and returning with cases of consumer durables. The government put the kybosh on that to, restricting us to NZ$50 of duty free goods.

I guess that in such a regulated climate, you could put a healthy markup on a cheaper camera, so Kodak Went for the maximum number of units that they could fit into their government imposed budget.

The interesting thing is that while a heap of the cheaper Paxettes and similar models from Agfa and Voigtlander turn up here, the classier models: the Super Paxette II L and BL also regularly turn up.

Thanks for the addresses Peter and John. Chris must be the guy to consult with Retina questions, eb=ven academic ones! Peter, I recognise the Rawhiti name in your link, so don't apologise, it is useful in making a connection. It turns out that I bought a very interesting (to me) Toyoca 35 and Watameter from Chris via TradeMe. The penny didn't drop 'til I read your post and recognized the nickname.

John F, you are dead right, I keep wondering if the Canonette is the most significant rangefinder in NZ. A power of them must have been moved by someone. But I reckon the average consumer could do a lot worse than the Canonette, so maybe we were onto something.

[nikkortorokkor]

and now a IIIc has appeared on Trademe. I'll keep my mouth shut from now on.

repeat the mantra 3 times: I do not need to start collecting another brand. I do not need...