 London, a Unique City for Camera Collectors shows, shops and fleamarkets and... by Maurizio Frizziero Part II, April 1997
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In Bond Street you can find Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden (? I am not sure if the man on the left was Eden ?), You stay with them for some minutes, but you are not there to meet them. You went there to go to Photographica 97, you could not miss because Peter Longden wrote to the Exakta Circle members, telling them the chronicle of the day after.. and in the chronicle there was written that Klaus has a table near the one of the Exakta Circle and that Maurizio usually comes too...
After reading that, I took the first flight to London! I love London. I stayed there many times. Usually I arrive at Gatwick airport, I take the Gatwick Express (£8.90) and after half an hour I am at Victoria Station (if you fly with British Airways when you are leaving you can make your check-in here, so you can reach the airport without baggages!). I think to have written these words another time! I reserved a two bedroom apartment at Allen House, Kensington, close to Kensington High Street Underground Station, hoping that some of my friends 'd have come with me. I came alone, with a lot of space for me! Nice to have a lot of space! Usually the hotel rooms in London are around 4 square meters even in the 4 stars accomodation like the Strand Palace (not less than 120 pounds for night). Photographica 97 Underground. Victoria, straight along to Westminster Abbey, at the first traffic lights you turn on the right, 200 meters and you find the Royal Horticural Hall. You enter, you meet a friend, the Exakta Circle Treasurer, who tells you that you have forgot to pay the subscription fee! You make your apologies and you enter. Here below you can look at the view you have when you enter the hall. 
I turn on the left, looking for the Exakta Circle table, where I am sure to find Peter Longden (the ET Editor), Marc Bramson (the Circle's Secretary) and Klaus Rademaker (on these pages you can find hin often). If you do not know them you can take a look of the picture on the right. They are there, as I was hoping. You can see them from every table because I think that the tallest is Peter but the smaller is Klaus (six feet four inches, more than 190cm!). I talk some minutes than I go for my first view of the tables even if I know it is better to wait for the afternoon, when there is less people. Then I come back and I find Matthews, Rex Watson and Klaus talking and smiling; even during such a show there is a break! I stay with them, I look at the tables (Marc has a striped prism for sale, Klaus not many items because "early birds catch  the worm" and I prefer to wake up late in the morning. But even waking up late Klaus still has a Ihagee micro-macro meter (I was looking for it since many years. I found one fron Thierry Rebours, it was for sale in Nice from the Clement Aguila doubles. I had no money with me and I did not think that that meter was so scarce.) Klaus had a heavy Telemegor I never saw, so I took it. In the tables in front of the Exakta Circle there was Lionel Hughes with his nice wife, Christine (I met them on the following Saturday at their place in Portobello Road and of course  I took the pictures you see here on the right). If you wish to receive Lionel's illustrated catalogue you can write to him (64 Needlers End Lane Balsall Common Coventry England CV7 7AB, telephone +44-1676 532560) or you can send him an e-mail. Usually he sells rare wood cameras, with some stereo items. The quality is very good. Here some of the items from his last catalogue: Ferrotype Camera, Carlton Twin lens reflex by London Stereoscopic, Kromaz Colour Stereo viewer, Stereotar C set, by Zeiss Ikon, the 600 Set by Keystone, a rare Luckyflex Tlr.. I listed only some lots from his catalogue, but if you wish something you can ask. I go back to the Exakta table  and I find the big smile of Thomas Ackermann (a great Exakta collector but not only: if you wish the Exa and Exakta catalogues or you need to know something about camera repair or about sewing machines, ask him!). You can often find his artcles on Exakta Times. He knows german language so he is one of the few lucky members who chan read german texts. Now he is translatig an Exa repair manual. Near Tom I find John Richardson, a very kind collector who talks with me about the nature of his region, near the Adrian Wall. I go uptairs and I meet Jim Anderson, PCCGB's Chairman and Past Exakta Circle Chairman. It is very nice to talk with him at his table where he shows some Exakta items, some Enna Sockel mount lenses, a wooden Exa I bought immediately... I buy a near mint Contessa Nettel tripod too, heavy for the flight but very nice, and a lens I had not.. I remember when I had a successful bid at the PCCGB auction (he was the seller) and he wrote Maurizio,
I'm sending the camera at once without waiting for your cheque to
arrive... ...I was Chairman of the Exakta Circle for 3 years and I
know that anyone who enjoys Exaktas must be thoroughly
trustworthy! At those time he did not yet know me.When I was talking arrived Giuseppe Tansini, who was looking for his collection's last camera (a VX IIa Version 3) . He is a lucky man, I had 3 of them and as soon as I came back in Italy I sent him one! At 4.30 the show was closed so I went home with my heavy bags 
The following days were spent between the usual shops, beginning from Classic Collection where I found a like new striped pentaprism and a very rare Stereo Kindar the same Mahendra Mody has on the glass window, near a Biotar 100 (35mm mount). We spoke, we smoked a cigarette, with no hurry, as usually. Mahendra was so kind to let me look at their last purchases and to let me choose between them, Then David Woodford arrived, we spoke like old friends. As everyone knows, in the same place there are other two classic cameras shops, Jessop and Rare Cameras. Jessop is my first love, so everytime I am there I try to buy something. On these days there were no exciting items but I found a handmade Exakta mount nice bellow. I asked Burl Solomons to see it, we spoke about the item some minutes even if I bought it for 20 pounds, then I looked at two Zeiss early prisms, at an unusual lens (probably adapted) for a VP, at some booklets, but I left the shop only with the £20 purchase. Don't worry, Burl said, probably next time..The kindness is here a rule, I am glad to be an old client.
    During my camera walks I find everytime a new shop. For Leica collectors there is a nice shop in Princes Arcade, Piccadilly, on the other side of the Burlington Arcade, Richard Caplan. The interiors are like a jewellery shop! During my camera walks I look at my "usual" shops, like Jubilee, In Camden Passage, Islington. Here you can find the picture you are looking for, Victorian albums with CDVs, glass slides, stereoviews... I found two very nice handpainted French Riviera lantern slides, a Victorian Album with a music box inside and some other nice images. Conclusion If you need some other information on London Shops, you must wait for my next trip, probably at the beginning of November. If you are not patient, you can write! Christie's South Kensington 1996 Auction Results Christie's South Kensington 1997 Auction Results Back to the index The Tourtuos Path Towards a Camera Collection Exa, from 1950 to Exa 500 The Dresden Museum's Rare Cameras times, since Sunday 26 June 1996 Last revised on 22 September 1996 |
