Prince

The name Prince appears on various Japanese cameras:

cameras attributed to Fujimoto by McKeown:
- Semi Prince, 4.5x6 folding (1934 onwards), mentioned by Fujimoto on their web page, distributed by Fukada Shōokai, also sold by Fujimoto under their own brand as the Semi Lucky
- Prince Peerless, maker dubious
- Princeflex, probably made by Neumann & Heilemann, also distributed by Fukada Shōokai
- Prince, 6.5x9 folding plate camera (only in McKeown)
- Pocket Prince, 4x6.5 folding (only in McKeown)
cameras by the Prince Camera Works:
- Baby Doris
- Prince Baby Ref, perhaps the same cameras as the Riken Chukon Ref
cameras by the Prince Camera Company:
- Prince Junior, by the Prince Camera Company

Here is a possible theory:

around the mid 1930s the Prince name was used by a distributor named Fukada Shōokai, who sold cameras made by various other companies, such as Neumann & Heilemann for the Prince Flex or Fujimoto for the Semi Prince
at the end of the 1930s a company named Prince Camera Works existed, related or not to Fukada
after the war an altogether different company named Tōyō Seiki Kōgaku 東洋精機光学 reused the name and finally called itself Prince Camera

Links

Disambiguation Page