Antique & 19th Century Cameras

Once upon a time, long before Sears, Roebuck & Company had Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools, Sears sold wood and brass cameras such as the example shown here. The Delmar Folding Camera is a 4 x 5" leather covered mahogany, folding-plate camera made by Sears, Roebuck and Company.

The most interesting feature is a shutter mounted inside the lens board. Turning a brass knob below the lens to either the right or left tensions the shutter. The shutter blade has a small arrow engraved on it to remind the photographer which direction to turn the shutter tensioning knob.

The rising / falling, concealed-shutter lens board is a marvelous piece of craftsmanship with its beveled edges and brass hardware. This particular camera is similar to the Pony Premo E by the Rochester Optical Company. 

Concealed-shutter folding-plate cameras are somewhat uncommon compared to others with external lens/shutter assemblies. This was possibly due to the amount of hand-fitting to assemble the shutter inside the lens board. The shutter was very limited, with only one speed. The lens is a single-achromatic meniscus formula.

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Sear's 1902 catalogue listing describes the camera being built of high quality materials. The company purposely priced it lower than competitors' equipment at only $3.75 (equivalent to $146 in 2026 currency), making it an outstanding value.

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09-2026: Special thanks to Jon Coffman (Sears, Roebuck & Co. camera expert) for pointing out this camera's model name. Jon also gave permission to include an excerpt from his book that has fascinating insights about the company's competitive camera marketing. Follow this Link to Jon's excerpt.