Pecole Posted August 27, 2011 Share #1 Posted August 27, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) The Fontenelle estate, 30 km South of Brussels that I owned and where I lived for 30 years, included a ceturies-old - and dry cellar. I arranged it as a photo-bar, where part of my Leica collection and a few "alien" pieces were displayed. I called it my Ali Baba's cave. I just scanned some colour negatives dating December, 1978 (nearly a third of a century ago !), and take pleasure in sharing a few prints with the nostalgic Leica-mads/mates supposed to open these threads. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/160348-fontenelle-archives-88-ali-babas-cave/?do=findComment&comment=1777000'>More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 27, 2011 Posted August 27, 2011 Hi Pecole, Take a look here Fontenelle Archives 88 : Ali Baba's cave. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Michael Hiles Posted August 27, 2011 Share #2 Posted August 27, 2011 This is terrific - and much appreciated. I very much enjoy seeing your collection displayed here. I hope you keep showing us more of Leitz/Leica's interesting and arcane efforts over the years. I am inclined to rate the Leica (particularly the M series) as one of the highlights of industrial engineering in the 20th century. I love how you show us some of the details. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
msk2193 Posted August 27, 2011 Share #3 Posted August 27, 2011 I like that barrel lens on the 8x10 (I think) sitting on top of the bar! Great collection. I hope it is keeping dry in Portugal too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabears Posted August 27, 2011 Share #4 Posted August 27, 2011 Very fascinating! I think that most of us would be at least one of your lucky guests... P.S.: to enter had to say "open sesame"? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiZZ Posted August 27, 2011 Share #5 Posted August 27, 2011 Is the secret password "Open Sesame"? You know, in case I want to "borrow" something from that incredible collection. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronan Posted August 28, 2011 Share #6 Posted August 28, 2011 Looks like my parents wine cave. Even the white paint on rock/brick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
someonenameddavid Posted August 28, 2011 Share #7 Posted August 28, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) ok so it's not a Leica question, but: the camera the name of which I forget, but it was made by a swiss watch company and marketed in London... you show an example in your collection. Were the pictures it took decent? David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
etp095 Posted August 28, 2011 Share #8 Posted August 28, 2011 That is a cool man cave,i can't imagine what the outside looks like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted August 28, 2011 Share #9 Posted August 28, 2011 ok so it's not a Leica question, but: the camera the name of which I forget, but it was made by a swiss watch company and marketed in London... you show an example in your collection. Were the pictures it took decent? David Presumably the Tessina? rather than Alpa, which was a REAL camera rather than a bit of an expensive toy Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #10 Posted August 28, 2011 I like that barrel lens on the 8x10 (I think) sitting on top of the bar! Great collection. I hope it is keeping dry in Portugal too. If it is keeping dry, it's definitely not in Portugal! I am an old man (77), and I decided to part from my beloved collection in 1993, when I retired to the South. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #11 Posted August 28, 2011 Very fascinating!I think that most of us would be at least one of your lucky guests... P.S.: to enter had to say "open sesame"? It is a long time (1993) since I left my Fontenelle house to one of my sons and retired to Portugal. But the "key word" Open Sesame would ensure a friendly access to you to my new Algarve setting in case... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #12 Posted August 28, 2011 Is the secret password "Open Sesame"? You know, in case I want to "borrow" something from that incredible collection. Too late to borrow something, chap ! I parted from my Fontenelle collection in 1993 when I retired to Portugal. As for the password, see what I said above to sabears. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #13 Posted August 28, 2011 Looks like my parents wine cave. Even the white paint on rock/brick In fact, there was also a wine cave next to this one, a true old-style wine cave with a natural spring flowing through and maintaining a 13-15º Celsius temperature all the year long. Both caves were around 3 centuries old, and the wine one also contained a collectiion ... guess what (hips) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted August 28, 2011 ok so it's not a Leica question, but: the camera the name of which I forget, but it was made by a swiss watch company and marketed in London... you show an example in your collection. Were the pictures it took decent? David It is a Le Coultre Compass with a 3.5/35mm lens and rotating shutter. It could be used with plates or a special rollfilm cassette for six negatives. I never succeed in finding the necessary material to conduct tests...It was an incredible miniaturised mechanical work, typical of a watch manufacturer, with evrything incorporated (filters, cap...). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted August 28, 2011 Presumably the Tessina? rather than Alpa, which was a REAL camera rather than a bit of an expensive toy Gerry Le Coultre Compass ! see what I replied above to someonenameddavid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share #16 Posted August 28, 2011 That is a cool man cave,i can't imagine what the outside looks like. You would like to know the exterior? here it is. When I bought it in 1964, it was a ruin of an old farm, itself built in 1816 or 1817 on the ruins of an estate destroyed in 1815 in the general Waterloo battle. I bought it because I thought it was the place of the known origins of my mother's family (owners of the Fontenelle estate at the end of the 17th century). Unfortunately, it later appeared that there are 3 more places named "Fontenelle" (means little spring in old French) within a radius of 15 km, and "mine" was not the right one. Nevertheless, we had 30 happy years there, and raised two sons and a daughter next to the Leica collection. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/160348-fontenelle-archives-88-ali-babas-cave/?do=findComment&comment=1777636'>More sharing options...
Guest Holy Moly Posted August 28, 2011 Share #17 Posted August 28, 2011 It is a Le Coultre Compass with a 3.5/35mm lens and rotating shutter. It could be used with plates or a special rollfilm cassette for six negatives. I never succeed in finding the necessary material to conduct tests...It was an incredible miniaturised mechanical work, typical of a watch manufacturer, with evrything incorporated (filters, cap...). several years ago I had the chance to put my hands on this tiny cubic camera in the old part of Nantes, France. This high tec machine combines so many different features including filters, tripo mini? and other things all around the surface, very impressive! The ultimate gadget of 1930s: Jaeger LeCoultre Compass | WallOut Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twotone Posted August 28, 2011 Share #18 Posted August 28, 2011 Thanks for posting this. That collection must have been worth a fortune at today's prices Pecole. What made you start collecting Leica stuff and where did you find some of the rarer items? Are you sorry you sold it 1993 or did you manage to sell it for a relatively good price? Did you keep anything? Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share #19 Posted August 29, 2011 Thanks for posting this. That collection must have been worth a fortune at today's prices Pecole. What made you start collecting Leica stuff and where did you find some of the rarer items? Are you sorry you sold it 1993 or did you manage to sell it for a relatively good price? Did you keep anything? Tony Hi, Tony. I must confess that as a collector, I did never pay much attention to the "investment" side of this disease. As for the beginning, I received my first Leica (IIIc with Summitar) when I turned 18. Since at that time I combined my Law studies with a free lance Aviation journalist activity (I was a pilot since 16), I completed my set with an Elmar 35 and a Hektor 135 to "cover" meetings (Farnborough, Bourget, Hanover...), then upgraded to IIIf, M3, but strictly as a user. In 1969, after reading an article on the Leica story, I opened the drawer where my "old" Leicas and lenses slept (5 bodies and 7 lenses) to try to identify same, and I immediately dreamed to add a Leica I ... that I readily found at the Brussels Flea market. And I got the virus... It must be a gene in my character : I love investigating (when I graduated as a Doctor at Law, I studied the Civil Code in a venerable copy of the "Coutumes d'Orléans" published in 1772, first "modern" upgrading of the Roman law, ancester of the Napoleon Code on which both the French and the Belgian Law systems are based), so - just an example - when I heard that the Leica 250 had been designed following a specific request by a Belgian photographer and the two prototypes nº 114051 and 52 were delivered in Antwerp in 1933, I immediately started investigating to trace the owner and his lineage, and after 3 years, I had the chrome 114052 prototype in its original condition in my collection, and the - unfortunately upgraded GG - 114051 black paint in the sister collection of my friend Jean-Paul Bachely. Other pieces came mainly from four second-hand dealers in Brussels, from international dealers like Stan Tamarkin or from other collectors all over the world. My membership to LHSA and Leica Historica was very helpful, as well as the free dissemination of 600 copies of 6 issues of my illustrated "Fontenelle Collection Newsletter" in 1980. Sorry to have sold my collection ? frankly : no. It's another characteristic of my mind : when I decide to change something, it's over; I enjoyed it very much (and still enjoy it thanks to this Forum!), but my wife Colette (since 1962) and I had decided to start a new life in Portugal. I kept a few pieces that I finally sold to a Singaporean collector 3 years ago. And yes, I got quite a good price in 1993. Just for the fun, when quoting my "Coutumes d'Orléans", I took the book and my handy little V-Lux 20 to deliver the photo hereunder. Marvel of today's digital photography. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/160348-fontenelle-archives-88-ali-babas-cave/?do=findComment&comment=1778792'>More sharing options...
sabears Posted August 29, 2011 Share #20 Posted August 29, 2011 Wife is more than a concern, if you are a collector (and vice versa). First they underestimate and don't understand that your passion makes your house smaller each day. After years, at the end of the process, one day, after they realize than your terminal desease brought the family to find less and less room, they bring to your attention to the fact that the mattress has become harder than usual... ...the end begins when they have the bright idea to look under... cheers. P.S.: nice book Pecole! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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