Old projectors, cameras and equipment - help please!

[Davie]

Gents, I'll start by saying what i know about this subject could be written on the back of a postage stamp and hence, I'm in need of some assistance and advice. My elderly Uncle passed away recently leaving me the the difficult and harrowing task of clearing his and my late Aunt's house. In amongst his things, I found a few of his old cameras but have no idea what I'm dealing with here.

So, if perhaps some of the resident experts wouldn't mind having a quick scan over the following images and perhaps advising me of what I have, it's be appreciated. Their fate, unknown but if they are of value to a collector then I'd happily hand them over and similary, if they are just junk then again, no worries handing them over into a skip.

An old projection/cine camera of somesort with it's original case and instructions






Unsure on this, somesort of timer unit but all original boxes and so on





Again, no idea... a Rays safety projector is tells me






A projector of some sorts, sadly no box but looks unused and beautifully made








And this is alot newer, I've seen him use this to show us his millions of slides!






On a slightly different note but still old, I also rediscovered this table top pool table which I believe was given to him as a gift as a child some 80 years ago. Sadly some of the original balls are missing but it's still a stunning piece. It's unlikely I'll part with this!








Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Edit: Please excuse the decor, they got to 1970 and stopped... the curtains are purple. in fact, the majority of the stuff in the house has probably gone full circle and would now be classed as ultra fashionable. Some of her dresses and his shirts (and shoes!) are truly breathtaking... some for the wrong reasons! It's been an emotional time, but strangely good to.

Edited by Davie on Wednesday 30th March 19:17

[Nick Grant]

I'm no expert but that looks like a snooker table rather than a pool table

Don't know much about the other gear but it looks to be in superb condition.

[Davie]

See, told you I was crap at this sort of thing! I knew it was a snooker table, not sure why I wrote pool but not to worry... been a long day! Have done some Googling but limited success so far.

Regards

[GetCarter]

Looks like two circa 1950/60's projectors, with a cheapish cine camera and a 1960's slide projector. The 'warm welcome' is nout to do with photography methinks, just a very early timer switch that will turn on an electric fire before one gets home (probably to find the house burnt down).

If you eBay, I'd chuck all the camera gear on as a job lot... see what happens. It looks in good nick, and there are still some out there with 8mm, 16mm and super 8 films with nothing to show them on. (I lost all mine years ago).

The slide projector will be worth something if you can still get the relevant bulb.

[Davie]

Thanks for that. Have been doing some more interweb searching and whilst it would appear that none of the collection is particulary valuable (bang go my hopes of an Only Fools and Horses moment and subsequently, my RS6 Avant!) it's would seem to be fairly collectable. I did consider approaching the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh to see if there was anything they'd be interested in, similary I've found many many papers, books and original pictures and documents from his early days in the coal industry and given we're from an area where mining was a huge industry, there are many museums which may be interested in these.

Would just like to see alot of the thing he kept for decades going to people who'd appreciate them rather than simply bung them in my attic or worse, dispose of them.

Regards

[Simpo Two]

I too would use eBay, but split them up. I don't see any collectable makes there like Bolex. The black Ray projector looks the oldest to me, I'd guess 1940's.

I have a very similar snooker table; the box design tells you it's not 80 years old but probably 1970s. Quite fun as you can put it on dining table and fire away.

It is sad to see what were once desirable objects relegated almost to junk in the march of progress, but until it's museum-worthy that's the way of things. I have a trunkful of similar things (albeit pertaining to stills) upstairs.

[Davie]

The snooker table, the balls in the box aren't original and didn't come with the table as I've since discovered. I guess they were bought much later to replace the original ones which went under the floorboards/hoover/dog but having done some internet'ing, seems the table isn't particulary valuable either but is maybe 1940/50's? Crying shame it's not complete and mint as I'm sure a museum would find a home for it.

I'm loathed to try sell any of the above, it's not about the money at all... I just know he'd have wanted any of his possessions to go to somebody who appreciated them. That said, I love the engineering side of them. They're a world apart from today's Korean plastic crap! The cine camera is superb, I don't appreciate what it is but how it's made and the design and just the overall 'feel' of it... lovely!

Cheers

[Simpo Two]

It's a great pity that things that were once 'hi-tech' and desirable and probably expensive are now effectively worthless. Too old to be useful and too young to be valuable or museum pieces.

If you eBay them then at least they will go to someone who wants them, even if for beer money. There will be people out there with old films and slides they want to see but can't - so if the projectors work that's a plan. There are also collectors of such things.

Or if you have room, keep your favourite pieces as souvenirs.

[GetCarter]

Simpo Two said:

Too old to be useful and too young to be valuable

Sounds familiar.