[LargeFormat] Kodak serial numbers

[Les Newcomer]

For those that are still interested, I think the following auction tells a 
lot
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1394645410
Both are the same lens with the same serial number 000 from the same year.

ASIK this clinches the theory that "000 serialed lenses are pre-production 
and unsequential, they could be early in the design and build they could 
be the last before production started. There is no clue as to how many or 
few of any particular 000 lens they made"

On Sunday, October 13, 2002, at 10:10 PM, Michael Briggs wrote:

>
> On 14-Oct-2002 Les Newcomer wrote:
>
>> I'm the new owner of two odd ball tele type Graphic lenses.  Both are
>> Kodak Anastigmats but made in '45, so I'm assuming these are not coated.
>
> Kodak was coating military lenses from the begining of WWII, so it is 
> possible
> for them to be coated, but if they are not marked with the circle-L, they
> probably aren't coated.  If they are coated, the reflections of bright 
> lights
> should have some hue.  Also, you can compare the brightness of the 
> reflection
> of a bright light from  the surface of the lens with the reflection from 
> other
> optical surfaces, uncoated and coated.  Using a comparison, you should be 
> able
> to tell which is
> which.
>
>
>> The questions lie in the realm of "what do the serial numbers really 
>> mean?
>> "  The serial numbers for both lenses are ER 000.   Did Kodak reset the
>> serial numbers every year? I've seen some pretty low numbers in the 50s
>> which suggest they did.  Other times I see 4 digit lenses and think well
>> maybe they didn't.
>
> AFAIK, they reset the numbers every year.  4 digits means that they made 
> more
> than 1000 of that type of lens in one year -- this seems reasonable -- 
> mass
> production marketed to a very large country.
>
>>
>> Does anybody know if they started with 000 or if they used that as a "pre
>> production" serial and began with 001?
>
> I don't know the answer.  Various ebay sellers have stated that 000 is 
> used for
> pre-production lenses.  However, there seem to be a surprising number of 
> them
> out there.   Maybe they made a fair number of pre-production lenses for 
> various
> testing purposes.
>
>> Does anybody have any data as to when Kodak introduced new lenses?
>
> Lenses designs were either renamed or changed/introduced a few years 
> before
> WWII and again after the war.
>
> --Michael
>
> _______________________________________________
> LargeFormat mailing list
> LargeFormat@f32.net
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/largeformat
>