Bolca (Chiyoda)
See also the Bolca Reflex, predecessor of the Alpa.
The Bolca (ボルカ) is a Japanese camera, about which almost nothing is known. The Roman spelling "Bolca" is only conjectural, and even the format is unclear.
The camera is mentioned in the official list of set prices dated November 1941, where it is classified among 4.5×6cm and 6×6cm folding cameras.[1] In the document, it is attributed to "Chiyoda Kōgaku", but this was probably not Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō, predecessor of Minolta, because the price list attributes all the Minolta cameras to their distributor Asanuma Shōkai.
The Bolca is mentioned in no other document found so far, and it notably does not appear in an earlier official price list compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941.[2]
Notes
Bibliography
- "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 3, section 7B.
- "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in Shōwa 10—40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10〜40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935—1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Pp.108—9. The Bolca does not appear in this document.
This camera is not listed in Sugiyama nor in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.
