I found me a Wirgin!

[tunalegs]

The nickel finish and the uncoated lens would indicate prewar, or very early post war manufacture.

The Adox Adrette was produced during the period of time the Wirgin brothers were out of Germany (for obvious reasons, being a Jewish family).

After the war one of the brothers, Henry Wirgin returned and ran the factory. The other remained in NY and ran a photographic import business, Caspeco I believe. Wirgin went bankrupt in 1968 afters some years of mismanagement and an inability/reluctance to develop new models. It was reorganized as Edixa gmbh, named after their best selling product the Edixa reflex cameras. When their first all new camera in over a decade, the Edixa Electronica TTL bombed in the marketplace the company was finished for good.

 

[tjh]

Wow that's neat Tom! Any chance you could post a photo of your Wirgin. I would love to see how much different - if at all - your camera is to mine. You probably know quite a bit about the camera too. Hmmm....

Have you had decent results with it in the past?

It's buried in the closet somewhere. I haven't shot with it in years - not sure the shutter still works. It was a cheap camera at the time it was sold and I only keep it because my father used it a lot. It's not so beautiful as the earlier cameras - just looks like a typical 1950s viewfinder camera.

Tom

 

[tjh]

You really don't want me to make my Wirgin come out of the closet, do you?

Tom

 

[Dralowid]

For what it's worth here are three that are in the process of departing my cupboards...

The first one is obviously the oldest but I would say post war


IMG_1637 by dralowid, on Flickr

Then this one with the body shutter release whose linkage, because of the extending lens, is a mite delicate (this one is broken)


IMG_1662 by dralowid, on Flickr

And then they reverted to the simpler, on shutter, release (I think)


IMG_1652 by dralowid, on Flickr

I may well have got this all wrong and look forward to being corrected!

Michael

 

[Chris101]

I've never seen that camera. Wow, so simple, and so German! It's a treasure for sure, and perhaps the next thing to ascend to stratospheric values in the collector world.

... Beautiful!

 

[tonyj]

Wow, those are great shots Michael .... and thank you!

Yes, the first one is very much like mine with some slight variations. Same 'Prontor' shutter, but mine goes to '250', but has no 'T' setting. Those 'hex' nuts on yours become 'slotted screws' on mine. Lens appears to be the same Schneider. Other than that, they appear to be pretty darn close.

The other photos you posted do an excellent job in illustrating the evolution of this 'Wirgin/Edinex' camera. Very interesting .....

Hey Chris101, how long do I have to hang on to this thing before it reaches those stratospheric values you say it may attain one day? I am knocking on a bit now, so the sooner the better, I say.... $$$$$....😉

 

[Dralowid]

Wow, those are great shots Michael .... and thank you!


Hey Chris101, how long do I have to hang on to this thing before it reaches those stratospheric values you say it may attain one day? I am knocking on a bit now, so the sooner the better, I say.... $$$$$....😉

Tonyj, Don't hold your breath, I have yet to hear the thunder of hoards of Chinese collectors beating their way to my door!

Prices so far have ranged between $40 and $50 in UK.