Reko Box Camera by Rochester Optical Co. | ||
| Unsolved mystery items20731 of 96466 |  |  |
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Posted 6 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
Well, I don't know too much about these old wooden cameras (yes, it is covered in leather), but this one is a "Reko" by Rochester Optical Co. Serial(?) 63568. The mechanism for the lens says "Unicum". 1890s-1900s? Auction buy.
I'm guessing this one is the same:
http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium/pm.cgi?action=display&login=reko
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Looks like an old one. rniederman should know something about this one.
The "Reko Camera" is fairly obscure and wasn't widely advertised or offered in many dealer catalogues. In 1899, the camera was listed for $15. This is another example of the popular style of "self-casing" cameras I often refer to in my Show & Tell postings.
As a side note, the Historic Camera website shows a "Reko" camera but the description and title are for the "Cyko Reko". It's a subtle thing but, for accuracy, your camera is listed in the Rochester Optical catalogue as "The Reko Camera." The difference is that the "Cyko Reko" is an export model having a thinner body that fit into a side-by-side case that could be strapped onto a bicycle frame. The "Reko Camera" (your camera) has a deeper body that could store three plate holders.
What's also interesting is that the Reko Camera was designed to use a cartridge roll film holder for 12-exposure roll film. The cartridge holder cost $5 and each roll of film was 90 cents.
"Unicum" is the name of the shutter and is correct for the camera. It was a very popular shutter.
Very cool camera :)
Hello, Fort Apache, thank you.
Hello, rniederman, thank you. I was wondering where they got "Cyko" from since their example looked identical to mind (though in better shape). Thanks for the additional information.
Hello, Trey, thank you.
...nice score Bear, looks like a cool project...
Yes, today I removed the red-rotted leather on the case. I hand-sanded it all off, and, man, that was a big pile of dark brown-coloured powder!
seems to be plenty of parts out there for it...
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=rochester+optical+co.&ul_noapp=true
Thank you, Windwalker.
Hi I was wondering if anyone knew the specific amount of cameras that were made? (Reko) and the specific release year as well, thank you!