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Purma Cameras Ltd | Purma Speed | Other | Other

METAL ROLLFILM CAMERA | 1936-7 Purma Cameras Ltd was formed in 1935 and produced this Purma Speed Camera in June, 1936, at a retail price of 35 shillings, leather case 10s extra, at a time when a man's suit could be bought for 50 shillings. In production for only one year, it was the first, and is now the rarest, in a series of three Purma models. It appears actually to be better specified than the later models, in that by turning a knob on top of the camera, (absent from later designs), the unique patented, focal plane, gravity-assisted shutter could be made to offer six speeds as opposed to the three-speed shutters of the later Purma Special (1937-51) and Purma Plus (1951-c.58). The "Speed", (possibly designed in 1933, when the shutter patent was applied for, but not granted until 1935), has something of the 1932 Leica Standard in its styling, and I have seen many cameras described as "Leica copies" that came no closer. At that time it would have been quite desirable, but I guess that by the time it got into production, thirties buyers would have expected something more streamlined and the "Speed" was rapidly superseded after only one year, by the trendy, art-deco styled, bakelite "Special".

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