A few days ago my father piped up ‘let’s go to the auctions, I’ve never been to one before…’
Neither had I, so off we trot to the local auction house which was holding a sale of die-cast model cars, toy trains, huge live-steam model traction engines and dolls… and as it turns out… cameras.
I spotted a few things that might be of interest: Mamiya TLRs, Leica SLRs, a box of assorted Nikons and a few odd lenses. I spent 40 minutes perusing the more obvious items and then in a moment of (potentially expensive) madness, I found myself registering as a bidder!
The auction proper started at 10am and by 10.45 the auctioneer had rattled through 50 lots, mainly vintage Dinky and Corgi toys and I was fascinated!
Next came the dolls and then the cameras… a couple of plate cameras preceded a number of Leicas, then it was on to the Mamiyas: C220, C330, 645 1000S and a variety of lenses went under the hammer as did a number of Rollei TLRs before it was the turn of the Nikons…
A pair of FMs, an F2 plus 50mm f/2 lens, and an F3 plus 50mm f/1.8 all sold quickly as did a Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens (which I was tempted by) and then there was this…
The Zoom-Nikkor 80~200mm f/4.5 lens is, according to Nikon Ambassador B. Moose Peterson‘s Magic Lantern guide book to Nikon Lenses, firmly in the “Oldies but Goodies” category.
This is the post-1977 version of the lens with 12 elements (in 9 groups) and NIC multi-coating, giving better image quality than earlier models, it’s also 80g lighter, weighing in at ‘only’ 750g!
Bidding began (and ended) at £30 and yes, I was the only bidder… the lens needs a good clean but I think it’s time to dig out my Nikon F3 to mount it on, don’t you?
Freelance Wastrel 