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Lot Essay
Technical description and commentary
L11004 (shown right in the illustrations). The camera would appear to be based on a Nikon I. The camera has a plain back, eight sprocket teeth, Nikon I rewind knob, release collar and advance knob. The MIOJ and NK engravings are the early style of engraving.
V151001 (shown left in the illustrations). The camera appears to be loosely related to the Nikon S although lacks the synchronisation sockets. The viewfinder offers no magnification or reduction of the image. There is no rangefinder linkage, and the top plate has no second rangefinder window.
Context
The two cameras were purchased from Joseph C. Abbott who had been the sales manager for Nikon in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The vendor recollects Abbott stating that the cameras were provided by Nippon Kogaku, Japan, in the 1950s for comment by Abbott in what was then the largest market for Nikon cameras. The cameras were retained by Abbott from that time until he sold them to the present vendor.
Only a very limited number of Nikon experimental or prototype cameras are known most having been destroyed by Nippon Kogaku as they were subject to government tax as assets and generally they had no commercial value to the company. A Nikon S prototype numbered L1101 is extant in the Nikon archive with a Leica screw mount and dates to 1954.
The Nikon Historical Sociey Journal number 64 shows a photograph of a Nikon prototype with screw lens mount with the camera numbered L50041. Records also exist of Nikon S2 prototypes which carried a 'V' serial number prefix but had a coupled rangefinder.
Recent research at Nikon in Japan has not found any specific record of these two cameras which is not unexpected. These cameras use authentic Nikon parts throughout in terms of their manufacture and body finish and show obvious signs of having been made to normal production standards as experimental cameras. While staff members at Nikon are unable to categorically confirm the authenticity of these two cameras they are confident that the cameras were assembled by a staff technician some considerable time ago.
L11004 (shown right in the illustrations). The camera would appear to be based on a Nikon I. The camera has a plain back, eight sprocket teeth, Nikon I rewind knob, release collar and advance knob. The MIOJ and NK engravings are the early style of engraving.
V151001 (shown left in the illustrations). The camera appears to be loosely related to the Nikon S although lacks the synchronisation sockets. The viewfinder offers no magnification or reduction of the image. There is no rangefinder linkage, and the top plate has no second rangefinder window.
Context
The two cameras were purchased from Joseph C. Abbott who had been the sales manager for Nikon in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The vendor recollects Abbott stating that the cameras were provided by Nippon Kogaku, Japan, in the 1950s for comment by Abbott in what was then the largest market for Nikon cameras. The cameras were retained by Abbott from that time until he sold them to the present vendor.
Only a very limited number of Nikon experimental or prototype cameras are known most having been destroyed by Nippon Kogaku as they were subject to government tax as assets and generally they had no commercial value to the company. A Nikon S prototype numbered L1101 is extant in the Nikon archive with a Leica screw mount and dates to 1954.
The Nikon Historical Sociey Journal number 64 shows a photograph of a Nikon prototype with screw lens mount with the camera numbered L50041. Records also exist of Nikon S2 prototypes which carried a 'V' serial number prefix but had a coupled rangefinder.
Recent research at Nikon in Japan has not found any specific record of these two cameras which is not unexpected. These cameras use authentic Nikon parts throughout in terms of their manufacture and body finish and show obvious signs of having been made to normal production standards as experimental cameras. While staff members at Nikon are unable to categorically confirm the authenticity of these two cameras they are confident that the cameras were assembled by a staff technician some considerable time ago.