Tropical version ?

[Dany]

Here is a camera I bought recently.
The body is not covered with leather as usual for this type of camera.
The frame is made of varnished mahogany.
I'm guessing this is a “tropical” version of a more widely available camera.
It's a 8x10 cm format plate device .
Probably made in France, it is difficult to identify as neither the lens nor the shutter are marked.
I am currently carrying out research to identify it and some of the fittings remind me of a French manufacturer called Jousset.

 

[smoke665]

Good find!

 

[webestang64]

Elegant and classy.

 

[cgw]

Some years ago I did research for a Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank(HSBC) corporate history. Part of it was interviewing retired British staff in Toronto. One delightful senior gent had a couple "tropical" view cameras. This meant materials that would resist prolonged high humidity. Corrosion on standard metal parts and mildew and fungus on regular bellows and wood ate
regular models alive, according to him.

 

[Rickbb]

Higher end models were finished in mahogany, cherry and such with chrome/stainless/brass fittings. I think it was of more of a "rich" person's camera than for tropical use.

 

[Dany]

Tropical cameras were suggested in some of the advertisements of the time for use during stays in the ‘colonies’ (e.g. India for English cameras).
They were characterised by the choice of materials to withstand hot and humid environments.
Chromium plating of the metal parts was not introduced until the 1920s. Before that, protection was provided by nickel plating.

 

[cgw]

You're welcome...