Antique Rarities

Description

Ticka was a subminiature camera developed in 1904 by the Swedish designer Magnus Niéll. It resembles an antique pocket watch and was the ideal companion for inconspicious photography. In the US, the camera was produced by the Expo Camera Company and became known as the Expo watch camera. In the UK, the camera was made by Houghton and received the name Ticka.
It came with a viewfinder that could be clipped to the shaft of the lease and could be used in two positions: allowing the camera to be used for either portrait or landscape images.
The Ticka was produced from 1906 until 1914 and was almost certainly the most popular camera of this type ever made.
This example is complete with its viewfinder - something that is all too often missing. It is also otherwise complete and even has an original film cassette with both spools.
Whether it is possible to obtain 17.5mm film nowadays we have no idea but if so it might be fun to try the little beast out. We've checked the mechanism and, apart. from a weak shutter coil spring (it is well over 100 years old) it cocks, fires and the film winder advances the tiny numerical window.........S-1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-17-19-21-23-25 as it should.
NB The lease cap chain, although complete, has detached from its figure of 8 keep and so needs carefully attaching.


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