Lancaster Rover Detective Camera

J Lancaster and Son Limited
Birmingham, England
ca. 1890s

Ex-collection Thom Bundza

The Rover is a wooden, rectangular hand-held plate camera with a glass and metal lens at front and hinged door to access the lens. It has a viewfinder on right side of the camera and hinged flaps at top and at back. It has a long wooden rectangular slider under the base.

The Rover 'detective' cameras came in many styles and met the popular demand for smaller lighter cameras. They were manufactured in four different sizes and advertised in 1896 as: "Simplest ever made. Shutter always set - any speed".