Wynne's infallible exposure meter.

This item is for sale at a local online auction in Taiwan where i live for

about $60. If you want more information about Wynne's Infallible Exposure Meter,

check brocantina.com/wynne.pdf

It's sold without box nor manual. I wonder if some of you have this item or have

more information about it. Some ebayers (there are 2) claim it as rare and sell

it for a much higher price. I'm curious... And thinking about buying one too.

Opinions ? Thanks.

$60 US sounds a bit steep but I am comparing with UK where they are not uncommon. I would think more about $40 or 20 GBP if in good condition and hopefully less. There is a solid silver version which sells for several times this price and will be hallmarked to show it is silver.

 

As you probably know the Wynnes Inallible, like the Watkins Bee meter, were both Actinometers where you timed how long it took for a piece of sensitized paper to turn a standard grey colour when exposed to the light. Some of the more expensive Watkins meters coame with their own inbuilt chain to act as a timer pendulum and the most expensive had a pocket watch on the reverse side for timing.

 

The one in the picture looks to be the standard Wynne's Infallible so I would not expect to pay more than an average price for it.

Thanks for your help Colin.

I know where one is sitting and it is strictly a collectable. The manual is a real joke, goes on for about 4000 words and talks in circles. Kind of cute old collectable though.

Hi, Yann As Colin says, these are not all that rare probably because they were sold all round the world for some years. I've scanned a relevant double-page advert from my 1914 BJP Almanac, which confirms what Mark says about the manufacturers trying to confuse prospective buyers with their spiel. Mind you - they were not alone. Most advertising from that era makes even the simplest of cameras or gadgets sound like it's the next best thing to a Time Machine in complexity and ingenuity.

 

Sorry I can't go smaller with the scan, but the print is awfully small and you'd have trouble reading it if I did. Small World Department too - I once used to live very close to that "Berrylands House, Surbiton" where Mr R. Frederic Taylor whose laudatory letter heads the right side page, came from. Can't recall meeting him there though...... (Pete In Perth)<div></div>

Nice document Peter, thanks.

Hi, Yann Glad you found the 1914 advert scan of some interest. I was just thinking of how it shows just what a small world we live in today. You're in Taiwan, I'm in Australia, yet I can send you a scan of a British Almanac which I got via Ebay from an antiquarian bookshop in South Carolina, USA.

 

Then there's the other aspect in that the first "plug" in the advert is from a place in Surbiton, where I lived and went to school more years ago than I care to remember .... Sheesh!! (Pete In Perth)