Wirgin Deluxe
The Wigrin Deluxe was sold by Camera Specialty Company of New York City[1]. This was an enterprise founded by emigré Max Wirgin after the nationalization of Gebrüder Wirgin during the Nazi period in Germany. The Wirgin Deluxe cameras were simple plastic folding cameras making 6x6 images on 120 film (not 6x9 as is sometimes stated).
Two body styles of the "American" Wirgin folder are known. One seems to be a name variant of the Voigt. This has a cast chrome top and bottom plate, and appears identical[2] to the Vokar B produced in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Electronic Products Manufacturing Co..
However the body style shown in the example below has flat top & bottom plates with Art Deco styling motifs. While this still has similarities to the Vokar folders, the Deco-styled Wirgin model has a hinged back, and lacks the "P-in-shield" mold mark found in the film compartment of the Vokar B. Whether this model has any Vokar connection is unclear. These models continued to be advertised into the 1950s.
Wirgin Deluxe variations
- Model 11 with a fixed focus "Meniscar" lens. This model also appears as the Wirgin Junior (just as the the Voigt Junior was a cheaper version of the Voigt)
- Wirgin Deluxe with Wirgin f/6.3 Anastigmat[3]
- Model 45 has a Wirgin-branded f/4.5 anastigmat
- Model 51 offered a Wollensak Velostigmat f/4.5 lens[4]
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| Images by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) | |
Notes
- ↑ The address for Camera Specialty Co. appears as 50 W. 29th Street, New York, in their December 1947 ad and the Wirgin Junior manual, both linked below.
- ↑ A December 1947 advertisement from Popular Photography magazine (Vol. 21, No. 6; page 12) shows this version, just branded "Wirgin," with a Wollensak Velostigmat f/4.5 lens.
- ↑ Wirgin Deluxe f/6.3 illustrated at www.wirgin.info
- ↑ An example is pictured here, image by Dave's Dogma on Flickr
