No. 1A Autographic Kodak Special (rangefinder)

Format

116

System

Kodak Autographic Special

Shutter

Optimo, later Kodamatic or Ilex Acme

Metering

none

Spec Notes

Two dimensions from the 1914-16 camera: the coupled Kodak Range Finder, and Bakelite side panels. AA-13 gives the rangefinder camera two rows, 1917-23 and a Model B 1923-26 with the back overlapping the sides; those are FOLDED, and it is the closest call in this group - the body change plus the Optimo-to-Kodamatic shutter move would read as two dimensions and split it. The fold is recorded as contested rather than settled. LENS AND SHUTTER ARE AN OPTION LADDER, NOT SEPARATE MODELS. Kodak's own catalogues print one heading and one description per camera with a price table of lens-and-shutter combinations underneath, and AA-13 carries one row per camera rather than one per grade. Same call as the Kodak 35 in slice 6. Where Kodak promoted a grade into the NAME - Special, Junior, Series II, Series III, Model B - it becomes its own row. DATING: NONE EXISTS. No Kodak serial-to-year table was ever published for any pre-1940 body, and the CAMEROSITY lens code runs only from about 1940 and appears on lenses, not bodies. Bodies of this era DO often carry a serial - museum records show 116880 on a 2C Autographic Junior and 15128 on a 3A Autographic Special, and AA-13 itself notes the highest known serial on the 1888 Kodak as 5192 - so the common claim that only the Medalist and Ektra were serialled is wrong. But an observed serial is not a dating input here. Date these by Kodak's own model letters and hardware notes instead: 'collapsing front', 'wood lens mount' against 'metal lens mount', '1917 Model', 'Model B'. NO PRICE IS RECORDED ON THIS ROW, and that is a finding rather than a gap: AA-13's 'ORIGINAL LIST PRICE' column is a TOP-OF-LADDER figure, not a list price. Verified against Kodak's own catalogues on five Autographic Special rows where AA-13 lands exactly on the dearest rung - and for the Folding Pocket rows it matches NO rung in any of eight catalogue years. The column cannot be ingested as a price field. DATES ARE MARKET DATES, NOT PRODUCTION. Kodak's AA-13 heads its columns 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO'. No Kodak-published production date exists for any camera in this slice.

Fitted Lens

Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3, B&L Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3, or B&L Tessar Series IIb f/6.3

Rangefinder

Yes

Fold Notes 9d

THE CONTESTED FOLD ON THIS ROW IS NOW BETTER FOUNDED THAN WHEN IT WAS MADE, AND ITS STATED REASONING WAS WRONG. The row folded AA-13's 1917-1923 and 1923-1926 lines together and flagged the fold as contested on the ground that 'the body change plus the Optimo-to-Kodamatic shutter move would read as two dimensions'. THE SHUTTER DOES NOT MOVE AT 1923. Kodak's own catalogues place it two years earlier: the 1920 catalogue prints 'Optimo shutter, with cable release' and the 1921/22 catalogue prints 'Kodamatic Shutter', with the lens constant at Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3 throughout. So the 1923 boundary carries ONLY the body redesign - and the Bakelite side panels being withdrawn and the back coming to overlap the sides are TWO DESCRIPTIONS OF ONE EVENT, the camera being reshelled to match its 2C sibling. ONE DIMENSION. The fold stands. KODAK NEVER PRINTED 'MODEL A' OR 'MODEL B' for this camera - asked of four catalogue years in differently-worded passes, all four returned not stated - and AA-13 has no Model A line at all. There is no Model A.

Alternate Names

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Introduced

1917