Argus A Colors
Edited IDCC Swap Meet Ad
From: Bob Kulinski
Subject: IDCC SWAP MEET AD
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 06:52:56 -0400
Good morning. Bob Kulinski has a few items for sale.
ARGUS A GOLD with case. C9 $195 postpaid
ARGUS A OLIVE with case C9 $120 postpaid
From: "Stephen Lyons"
Subject: Olive A's
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 08:35:44 -0700
A quick question for the group regarding the olive colored A's, do they
have a characteristic serial number range and therefore predictable
features?
__//\__ Stephen Lyons
||__(()_|
Subject: COLORED A'S
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 98 12:22:29 PDT
I have 3 colored A's
Brown/Gold---single sprocket--no tripod socket #31402
Olive/Chrome--single sprocket--with tripod socket #58534
(has gray plastic lens trim)
Gray/Chrome--double sprocket--with tripod socket #88712
(has the same gray as body on lens trim)
Man of few words
Damien
Subject: Re: Olive A's
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 22:21:56 -0600
>>Phil, it seems I read somewhere that A,s came in several colors, seems
>I have heard white and brown mentioned, but I can't remember where I
>read it. I've got a pretty good case of "CRS", you know, CAN'T
>REMEMBER S-----TUFF. It might have been in something Jason Schneider
>wrote. I don't consider him too reliable when he writes about Argus.
>I've caught him in too many mistakes.
>
> Charles
The white (or 'ivory' as I've heard it described) is pretty much Holy Grail
material in the Argus collecting world. I've never heard of one existing,
never seen one offered for sale. The reddish-brown one is pretty uncommon,
but they turn up. It has 'gold' (brass) metal parts, and the numbering,
lettering and arrows are all in red.
I've never determined to my satisfaction whether there really are distinct
'olive' and 'gray' models,or whether that refers to the same color. Both
the olive/gray ones I've owned, the body looks olive, but the plastic lens
trim looks gray -- maybe that's where it comes from. One snail mail
correspondent sent me his list of inventory, and he lists two 'olive' ones
and one 'gray' one. I asked him if there was a difference and if possible
to send photos, but I've never heard back. Maybe it's a secret.
As you saw from my reply to Stephen Lyon's inquiry, there are gray ones all
over the serial number map, and in both the common lens trim variations. My
red/brown one is #8457, has one sprocket and no tripod socket.
I've heard older colored plastics like that sort of change color with age --
'mellow' if you will. Mine have a sort of pastelish quality about them,
especially the red/brown one. Both the olive/gray ones I had, the body
color looked exactly the same, but I wouldn't be surprised to see two
red/brown ones that looked subtly different.
As you see, my information is about half speculation, so others are urged to
chime in and set the record straight.
Phil Sterritt
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 02:11:20 +0000 ( )
From: da
Subject: Re: Olive A
Phil, Bob..
I suspect then, that there is a grey variety as well as the white, brown,
and olive...
I also suspect that you would find these produced in small batches with
consecutive serial numbers...say fewer than 100 or so, but probably a
random number each time, since in plastic molding, you always have a few
with imperfect color combinations whenever you change colours in the
injection molds...
So say they set out to make 50 olives, but really only ended up with 48
that were completely olive...the rest went to the incinerator..
I would also imagine that they numbered the cameras near the end of the
production line, after they were sure that the thing was really gonna be a
camera, and that the body shell didn't crack in half when the tried to
tap the holes for the lens mount assembly...
there may not be a rich enough supply of a's still in existence to prove
this theory, but then again, if we work on it long enough, it just might
happennnn...
I do tend to think though, that if we find two coloured a's that are only,
say, 20 consecutive numbers apart, we would be safe in assuming that all
those in between should be coloured.
Tom
On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Kelly's wrote:
> I have one Olive A
>
> 60559
> Argus-Ilez-Precise
> has tripod mount
> single sprocket
>
>
> i have a friend with a GRAY. It is not olive it is GRAY
>
> Bob Kelly
From: "Phillip Sterritt"
Subject: Re: Olive A's
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 14:22:34 -0600
Here are the ones I know of:
44672 -- tripod socket, single sprocket, Argus-Ilex-Precise lens
48181 -- single sprocket
59691 -- single sprocket, added focus mount like Bob Kelly's
94262 -- described as 'gray' by same guy who has above 2 'olives' -- dual
sprocket
98474 -- tripod socket, double sprocket, IRC f4.5 Anastigmat lens (same body
color as 44672)
Phil Sterritt
From - Sat Jun 13 17:02:46 1998
From what we've heard from folks about gray and olive model As, I am pretty
sure that the ones I reported earlier are really the following colors:
44672 -- tripod socket, single sprocket, Argus-Ilex-Precise lens -- OLIVE
48181 -- single sprocket -- OLIVE
59691 -- single sprocket, added focus mount like Bob Kelly's -- OLIVE
94262 -- described as 'gray' by same guy who has above 2 'olives' -- dual
sprocket -- GRAY
98474 -- tripod socket, double sprocket, IRC f4.5 Anastigmat lens (same body
color as 44672) -- OLIVE
Phil
|