Photograph
Buttonhole Camera Negative 17
| Six circular images on a glass plate negative from the Stirn Concealed Vest Camera. The six images are out of focus. One is of a dog, the others are of men or women posing outdoors. |
| Image ID: | 120374 |
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| Creation Date: | |
| Creator Name: | Hanks, Stanley Charles |
| City: | Madison |
| County: | Dane |
| State: | Wisconsin |
| Collection Name: | Stanley C. Hanks Madison, Wisconsin, history photograph collection, circa 1850s-1985 |
| Genre: | Photograph |
| Original Format Type: | negative, duplicate |
| Original Format Number: | 1950.2554T |
| Original Dimensions: | 5.5 inch diameter |
| In 1886 C. P. Stirn bought the rights to make a unique kind of vest pocket camera that was invented by Robert D. Gray and first produced by Western Electric Co. in New York. Rudolf Stirn lived in the German capital Berlin where he manufactured vest cameras for his brother C. P. Stirn. From 1886 to 1888 15,000 examples of their Concealed Vest Camera were sold. The camera had to be loaded with a round film plate, 14 cm or 17cm in diameter. The round brass body with the exposure dial (with or without clock hand) and the funnel type lens barrel gave it an unique appearance. Two main types were made, one for making four 6cm wide round exposures on a round film plate with a diameter of 17cm, the other with smaller lens funnel, for making six 4cm wide round exposures on a round plate with a diameter of 14cm. This camera type fits not only in a vest pocket, it can be hidden in it so that the narrow lens opening looks through the vest pocket's buttonhole. Thus the camera got its popular type name "buttonhole camera," but also detective camera, spy camera, and last not least vest pocket camera. The cameras were marketed in the U.S. and Canada by Stirn & Lyon in New York. |
| This image is issued by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Collections Division. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Location: | Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 4th Floor, Madison, Wisconsin |
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