Bought an old Holmes-type viewer

[P3D Charles A Miller <oravaxcm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I went to the Photographica show on Sunday in Waltham Mass. and bought an
old Holmes-type viewer. Its not the wooden kind (its all black metal) but
since I'm not into it for the antique wooden quality, then I don't really
care! Anyway, I wanted it so that I could look at the APEC photos that
aren't in the viewmagic format (since I just signed up a a couple weeks
ago). Anyway, I paid $25 for it. I don't know whether this is too much or
too little, but since I saw some that were only part wood (and pretty
rickety) with $50+ price tags on them, well...

What I'd like to know is how can I get this thing loking a little nicer
and maybe lasting a little longer? It has little rust marks on it (not
rusted deeply in any places) first of all. The sliding card hgolder is a
little loose, but not too bad. The handle also seems a little loose. I
wouldn't hold it by the tip lets just say. Anyway, can anyone tell me when
this thing was made? (roughly). It has a wooden handle. The rest is metal.
It looks old. Thats as much as I can say. Like I said before though, I
really want ti to USE it. Not to keep it in some sort of classic manner to
accrue value. I was thinking of just buying rustoleum paint or whatever
and painting the whole thing just to make it look a little nicer and
protect the metal (well NOT the lenses of course).

I also bought 3 stereo views for $10 Two of them are keystone views of Mt.
Hood and Crater Lake (both in my home state of Oregon) and the 3rd is
hand-colored from the turn of the centuy. It is of the Boston Public
garden. If I give more info about these, (such as the card number) maybe
someone can date them?

Other than that, I thought that the show was pretty cool. Lots of stuff I
wish I had, but would NEVER pay so much money to obtain. There was only
one thing that really ticked me off though. I was walking by a table that
had a small box of stereo cards and a few other cameras. The guy had a
strangley new holmes type viewer (made of plastic and aluminum?) sitting
there. He pretty much ignored me until I said "Wow, that sure doesn't look
like an antique" (hoping to strike up a conversation about its origins),
and all he could say was "THATS NOT FOR SALE!" after which he ignored me
to talk to someone standing about 15 feet away who was looking at
something at someone elses table. What a jerk. I can only guess that it
is probably due to the fact that I am 24 and he is significantly older
(probably 10 years older than my father I would guess). I'm glad that I've
talked to plenty of people who are much older than I about photography and
3d items already, or else I'd start to get some sort of complex. Anyway, I
just hate it when people dismiss me like that. I wish I could have pulled
a couple thousand dollars out of my pocket and said, gee I was going to
buy your whole box of cards, but now I don't think so! Anyway, I doubt he
was really into stereo photography anyway. Probably just trying to make a
quick buck. Stereo people (at least the ones I've talked to here) are
usually a nice lot!


I'm through ranting now.


chuck
oravaxcm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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