Albion foil mounts

[P3D Donald Wratten <Wratten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There has been some speculation in the forum from time to time about the
future of Albion mounts.     I can now reveal that, after a fairly lengthy
negotiation, the existing dies have been purchased by The Stereoscopic
Society with a view to getting production resumed as soon as possible.
The Albion mounts were originally designed and produced by a Society
member, Bob Nightingale, who set up a small works in Albion Road,
Folkestone to manufacture them - together with the celebrated Hawk stereo
projector and the equally essential Nightingale mounting jig - primarily
for the benefit of members.   Bob Nightingale died in the 1970s, and
production was continued single-handed by his assistant Albert Thomas.   
After the small number of comercial outlets ceased to stock them, the
Society took over the distribution of the mounts through its Supplies
Secretary.
Albert Thomas retired towards the end of last year, and closed the works
down, but he did not tell the Society of his intentions and he disappeared
without trace.    One of our members tracked him down to his retirement
location, and the upshot is that we have been able to acquire the dies.   
They are now in the hands of one of our members who owns a small
engineering business, and he is currently considering how best to resume
production.
The problem is that that they have been produced by laborious
hand-pressing, which was OK for Albert Thomas but scarcely commercially
viable these days.    So we cannot promise that they will become generally
available again, and almost certainly the production price will increase.  
 But I'll keep the list posted on developments.
Don Wratten
President, The Stereoscopic Society


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