General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

3

Total Parts

4

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Leather, fibre and metal camera case.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

14.0 cm

Width

8.7 cm

Height

6.8 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Photography

Category

Still camera accessories

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Unknown

Canada

This camera belonged to The Right Honorable Herbert (Herb) Eser Gray. Gray was a prominent political figure that served the liberal party from the early 1960’s to the early 2000’s. He held a variety of positions during his parliamentary career such as deputy Prime Minister, committee chairmanships, and cabinet ministries during the liberal governments of Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau, and Lester Pearson. Gray is recognized as being Canada’s first Jewish cabinet minister.

Function

To contain, store, and protect a camera when not in use.

Technical

Introduced in 1939, the A2B was nearly identical to the Argus A. There were small obscure differences between the two, but the most apparent modification was the addition of an extinction meter. Argus incorporated an extinction meter and an exposure calculator into its design in the hopes of making amateur photography easier and therefore more appealing to the average consumer. Any inexperienced photographer could now take a decent photograph without having to calculate f-stops and shutter speeds. Selling for $12.50 U.S. in the early 1940’s, the A2B was an affordable camera that amazingly stayed on the market until 1950. With the advent of post-war times came the introduction of newer and more exciting cameras to the market. Since it only had 2-position focus, and didn’t have a range finder or flash capability, Argus had to drop the A2B in order to take advantage of, and profit from, newer advances in photo-technologies.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None apparent

Missing

Appears complete.

Finish

Medium brown leather case with silver-coloured metal hardware and a purple fabric-lined interior.

Decoration

N/A