Thornton Pickard were established in 1888 and where one of the early british pioneers in photography.
Originally based in Altrincham, the company developed the "Time and Instantaneous" shutter which was produced both directly by the company and under license by many other early camera manufacturers.
This mechanism was a predecessor to the focal plane shutter used in a vast majority of cameras even today.
The junior special was manufactured from 1926 onwards, and our particular model dates from 1927. The body was produced entirely from Mahogany and was coated in Seal-grained leather. All metal components where black enamelled brass for longevity.
The camera came in various size options, this particular example being for 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and support film holders for glass plate and sheet film as well as roll film back holders enabling the use of 120 roll film.
Focusing could be done either with the ground glass back fitted, or through the collapsable viewing hood via the silver surface "Everset" mirror, which was mounted to an "unwarpable" metal plate, a feature Thornton Pickard where very proud of as the mirror often went out of alignment on early reflex cameras due to the wooden mount board warping with time.
The camera is in remarkable condition for its age, and is fully operational. The mirror was re-coated for us by Vacuum Coatings Ltd which has restored it to its original standard.
The lens is the original Thorton Pickard fitted, T.-P Cooke Anastigmat 5" f4.5 lens that was specially produced for Thornton Pickard by Taylor Hobson. And produces beautiful results on both glass plate and sheet or roll film.
This is truly a unique camera and is a must for those 20's and 30's portrait shoots.