chris love Posted January 25, 2020 Share #1 Posted January 25, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi am having trouble dating very early/pre East german Astro Berlin Identoskop and lens on what later became commonplace 400/5 fernbildlinse serial numbers are very low and housing,materials and manufacturing labels are all different f Ii get any response I will attach photos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 25, 2020 Posted January 25, 2020 Hi chris love, Take a look here astro berlin serial numbers . I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
romanus53 Posted January 25, 2020 Share #2 Posted January 25, 2020 You should know http://www.exaklaus.de/astro.htm which has lots of information. The Identsokop was introduced 1933 or 1934 and before the PLOOT. So if you look on your numbers and compare to others visible on www you can estimate the manufacturing year, the numbers of box and lens should be in the same range. you may have a look on my Astro-stuff here https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/48991-nicht-immer-nur-kaviar/page/298/?tab=comments#comment-3630634 #5958 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted January 25, 2020 Share #3 Posted January 25, 2020 Astro-Berlin was founded in 1922. They applied for their first lens patent in 1924 in the US, which was awarded in 1925. They made a variety of optical products. All the products were given serial numbers from the same sequence. They started with maybe 1 or perhaps 100. The lowest serial number I have seen is 403. So let's say serial number 403 was in 1925. The serial number sequence changed during WWII. The highest pre-war serial number I have recorded is 39718. The post-war serial numbers probably start at 50001, with the lowest serial number in this sequence that I have recorded being 50254. Some say that the first two digits of the serial number is the year of production. This is definitely not true of pre-war production. It may be true of post-war production, but there is no way to verify that statement. The highest serial number that I recorded is 72399. Unless someone finds Astro-Berlin's records, there is no way to date Astro-Berlin products accurately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrogallol Posted January 30, 2020 Share #4 Posted January 30, 2020 There is an 800mm Astro Berlin on the bay now with a number that looks like 57694*** https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Astro-Berlin-800mm-Lens/293448309834?hash=item4452e1dc4a:g:SmoAAOSwxs9dMkyc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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