Shinano Pigeon

[TheChairman]

I recently acquired this camera as part of an auction lot. I've gotten a lot of great cameras this way, and every single one I have been able to find a plethora of information on the internet for. In this case, I can hardly find anything at all! I don't expect it to be some rare find, but I do want to know if it will be worth my while to take it for repair. The shutter, while it does snap, does not open. Oddly enough for an old camera, it even seems to snap correctly at the slower speeds. It just doesnt open the blades on the shutter. The aperture ring is also very hard to turn, so I am assuming old dried oil and crap from years of stagnation are to blame here.

The camera in question is a Shinano Pigeon. Ser.#43847.

Best I can gather, it was made sometime in the 1950's in Japan. It wasn't a very popular camera, nor was it a cheap camera. It's build feels sturdy in the hand, and it is quite heavy. Here are a few pictures of it and it's case earlier.
Let me know what you know. I don't even see any for sale on eBay
I would have uploaded them directly to the thread, but for some reason it won't allow me.

http://imgur.com/GxeId,r5R9h,oz83R,NVla6

Thanks in advance.

 

[dxqcanada]

1952
Hmm, I would have thought you would have found this: Pigeon 35 - Camerapedia
Yeah sounds like the shutter blades are stuck needs cleaning.

 

[TheChairman]

Well yea, I did find that.

But that's about it, Just how rare is this thing? I can't find any information about numbers produced, nor can I really find any information about going price. I found one site that said the going price was about $150 for a reasonable example, but then also said it only knew of 2 going up for sale in something like the last 10 years.