Rare Antique Contessa-Nettel Tropical Plate Photo Camera. Germany, Circa 1920

Rare Antique Contessa-Nettel Tropical Plate Photo Camera. Germany, Circa 1920

Rare antique Contessa-Nettel Tropical Plate photo camera made in Germany circa 1920 and in excellent condition. It preserves all it original component parts and pieces, from the beautiful solid-mahogany case to the leather bellow, the lens and the delicate mechanism. This camera is designed to be used with 6,5x9 plates, being otherwise in good working order. There are several inscriptions all over the camera with details about the component parts and their makers. The bellows has a label with the name WATER TALBOT – BERLIN, while the brown-leather-covered front plate shows the embossed brand name CONTESSA-NETTEL. The lens shows this too, together with the shutter’s brand name, COMPUR. Compur shutters were quite renowned; they were manufactured by F. Deckel in Munich. One of the case’s sides has a black plate with a regulation lever and the logo of the Contessa-Nettel brand.

Surely, this rare antique Contessa-Nettel Tropical Plate photo camera will stand out in the collection of any lover of classic photography.

Dimensions: Width: 4.05 in / 12.5 cm. Height: 4.92 in / 10.3 cm.

Deckrullo-Nettel Cameras - History

The Deckrullo camera was one of the most popular “press”models during the first decades of the 20th century. At first, these cameras were manufactured by the Suddeutsches Camerawerk Korner & Mayer (Sontheim am Neckar, Germany). They started being produced in 1903. In 1909 the company changed its name for Nettel Kamera-Werke and the camera started being called ‘the Nettel’. The firm was specialized in the manufacture of plate folding cameras and was renowned for its wide range of stereo models. They also made cameras with a special type of shutter known as Deck-Rouleau (covering roller-blind), which eventually became ‘Deckrullo’. In 1919 Dr. August Nagel bought the firm and merged it with his own company, Contessa Kamera-Werke; the business was renamed Contessa-Nettel. The camera changed its name for Deckrullo-Nettel. In 1926 Contessa-Nettel merged with Ernemann, Goerz & Ica to form Zeiss-Ikon. The firm continued manufacturing the model, but it reverted to its original Nettel name.