Pickwik

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Two Pickwiks image by Graustark (Image rights)

Pickwik is a brand of simple plastic camera for 127 film, known in at least three body-molding styles, but all using the same nameplate design surrounding the lens.

While these were all apparently produced in Chicago, USA, in the mid-20th century, there is some uncertainty about the manufacturer. The camera companies of Chicago created a bewildering variety of brand names for various essentially-similar bakelite "minicams," with the Monarch company one of the worst offenders. The brand Pickwik may have originated with them, with its odd spelling perhaps an echo of the "Monarck" brand variant also used by the company. McKeowns also attributes some Pickwik models to Jack Galter, from after he left Spartus camera in 1950. One wonders if unused body moldings and faceplates were being traded around between the various figures in the Chicago camera industry. The Pickwik's molded legend "Graf Lens 50mm" has been seen on other Chicago cameras.