ANTHONY'S VICTORIA SUCCESS CAMERA
E. &
H.T. Anthony & Company, New York 1870's - 1890's
Introduced by E. & H.T. Anthony & Company by the
early 1870's, Anthony's Victoria Success
Camera would still be offered through 1904, by its successor company,
Anthony & Scovill and by photographic suppliers such as Burke & James
which still carried it in their 1906-1907 catalog. This 4-Lens Carte-de-visite (cdv) camera, amongst a
number of multiple lens cameras offered by other makers, was originally
introduced for use with the wet collodion process. As a class, they were often referred
to as "ferrotype boxes", "ferrotype cameras" or "gem
cameras".
Essentially unchanged over its lifespan, the Victoria
Success would be found under a variety of names such as " The New Victoria
Box" (1872), "The Success Victoria Camera" (1876), the
"Climax Portrait and Gem Camera, No. 43C" (1880), The New York Gem
Camera" (1880), "Anthony's Cincinnati Gem Camera" (1884),
"Anthony's New Victoria Box" (1888) and the " 5x7 Improved
Victoria Camera" (1893).
From W.D. Gatchel's Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue, Photographic
Goods and Apparatus, 1888
Although some makers offered models with single and
double swing capability, many were more basic in construction and had no
movements. But in either case, their forte was the ability to produce multiple
images on a single plate in a studio setting. Depending on the number of lenses
employed (2-lens, 4-lens, 9-lens, etc.) and the plate's dimensions, multiple
images could be produced in a variety of sizes. Based on the scant availability
of early catalogues, the presumed accuracy of their engravings and that modifications
were made over the course of production, identifying a specific model for many
pre-1900 hand, self-casing, field and studio cameras can sometimes prove
challenging.
That said, determining this Victoria Success camera's actual
date of manufacture is difficult to pinpoint, but some aspects do help to
narrow the timeline. The camera's solid bed would suggest it to be earlier,
versus a folding bed which on many models is generally indicative of later
manufacture. However, the Victoria Success appears to have retained a solid bed
throughout production, offering no help in this instance. Having the familiar
nickel-plated "E. & H.T. Anthony, 591 Broadway, New York" maker's
tag, dates the camera to no earlier than February 10, 1869, as the company
moved to this address on that date from 501 Broadway, New York. Having a patent
date of November 11, 1884 stamped on its bed frame, also precludes it from
being built prior to that date. The "E. & H.T. Anthony, 591 Broadway,
New York" address changed to 122-124 Fifth Avenue, New York by June, 1901,
which would be the same address for the successor Anthony & Scovill Company
formed in December, 1901. Exhibiting some collodion staining on the plate
holder carriage, and more significantly on the plate holder itself, suggests it
was used to some degree as a wet plate camera. But despite the wet collodion
process transitioning to the dry plate in the 1880's, ferrotype photography
would continue into the 1890's and later production cameras could have used either
process. Taken altogether, this example falls somewhere between 1884 and about 1900.
Accompanied by its plate holder, this camera was formerly
of the Jordan Patkin Collection.
Anthony's
Victoria Success Camera, along with other multiple lens cameras
of the period, is rarely seen today.