Ernemann Bob 1... Can anyone help with date and some other details?

I have just bought this Ernemann Bob 1 for £10 and quite impressed by the build quality and functionality.

 

These are the details I have gleaned so far about my Bob 1:

 

- EISS logo

 

- Art Deco case styling

 

- Body 835 653

 

- Back 653, 5692, hand written V349

 

- Lens: Ernemann Detektiv Aplanet f= 10.5cm 422095

 

- Shutter 813010... Possibly a Chronos

 

- Kodak 120 film spool installed

 

. Mine is wooden so probably pre-1911 when bodies became cast-metal but then again Art deco period is 1908 to 1935 and it looks to me like a later deco style, than 1911?

 

. The Bob 1 is considered "somewhat rare" by collectiblend.com"

 

 

What really intrigues me is the logo does it stand for "Ernemann Zeiss"?... EISS. This would mean it was a collaborative venture acknowledged by the logo prior to the merger of Ernemann with Zeiss, which occurred in the late 1920's. After the merger and when old stock was used up I assume everything was labelled as a Zeiss?

 

Any ideas about the exact year and its true value and rarity?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kadlubeks Kamera-Katalog lists some 6 versions of the Bob I, ranging from 1903-1926. One of these is a 6x9 Bob I (Kad#0180) with a Detektiv-Aplanat 105mm f/6.8. That one had a Cronos/Bob shutter. It was made from 1913-1926. The Kadlubek price (2004) was 50 euros, so relatively common, if that's what yours is.

 

I tried to track down the logo (thought it might relate to the shutter) but with no luck. However, although I'm not a betting person, I'd bet that it has nothing to do with Zeiss, but I've been wrong [which is why I'm not a betting person:(]

 

see posting below, problem solved.

Edited October 23, 2020 by JDMvW

Lagniappe:

An Epiphany

Look at the type face used in the factory image-- The E and the W are your unknown logo - standing for Erneman Werke

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I had an Erneman Film-K box camera with a wooden body, they were still using wood well into the 1920's.

All brilliant answers thank you!... Especially the explanation for "W" as Werke I hadn't though of that although I did wonder if it was a 'W' but couldn't think of anything.

The Erneman Tower that became the logo for Pentacon, much later.

And I always thought it was just some designer's flight of fancy.

 

Never too old to learn something new!

 

FWIW, the famous Ernostar wide-aperture 645 lens is an almost perfectly tele-centric design. If it wasn't so rare, it'd probably have MILC lens adapters clamouring all over eBay for examples.

Edited October 25, 2020 by rodeo_joe|1