1952 Contax mount Jupiter 11 Zeiss glass!

Hello friends. I have a Red P edition of a J-11 from 1952. A very early year. In fact out of the many that are on eBay, it is the earliest I have seen. This is with the Zeiss glass! It has no tint on the glass as many of the later non-Zeiss copies do. The glass is perfect and the body is also very very good.

I am looking for a possible cash/trade for a Russian M39 mount.

Offers are welcome as are email messages.

Hi,

Quite interesting - I own two 1952 Kiev mount J11 : one is like yours, the other one has the tinted coating

I own a 1951 LTM Jup 11, and it doesn't have the Zeiss number at the back.
But nothing is impossible. Does yours have it?

Jacques.

Hi Jacques,

Please tell us where is the Zeiss number ?



Best,
Jean

It's not as simple, as you know!
One cannot know, by the tint of the front lens, if there is a Zeiss number at the back...

In fact, there was a sort of "lego" party at the end of WW2 with the different parts of Sonnars and Biogons: barrels, lenses and mounts. And I (personally) think that the 4/13,5 Sonnars parts were probably the first to be completely used. We find "official" Zeiss parts up to 1952 on Jup 12, for example.

But it's a complex question which cannot be explored in two sentences.
As I'm a player, I would say that if there is a Zeiss number, it would be on the left lens. But I must be wrong too!

Now, tell me, please, Jed!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

How do we find the Zeiss#?

quote:

---

Originally posted by jed

Hi,

Quite interesting - I own two 1952 Kiev mount J11 : one is like yours, the other one has the tinted coating

---

Very nice collection Jed!

I love Russian lenses. They just add a certain something to photography.

How we can find the Zeiss number, if there is one?

You try to unscrew the barrel by the front of the lens. At the rear end of the barrel, you (can) have a Zeiss number.
But don't force. I have three of these lenses, in LTM version. But only one can be unscrewed. The others were certainly sticked to keep good regulatings.

I take two or three picts and I post them.

The Sonnar 13,5/4cm s/n 2712580 (front part):



There, it is unscrewed:



The barrel:



And the Zeiss number:

Note that it's a LTM Sonnar (my 1951 Jup 11 has externally exactly the same features).
I suppose that bayonet mounts can be dismounted in the same way. But they can be sticked too...

Jacques.

I will check on this later. Thank you!

Hi all,

I tried what Jacques said :



Rear element both have a hand written number "409" and "22".

So, no official Zeiss number on the rear, Jean ? Only hand written inscriptions? The fact that they are the same is interesting: they were probably made by the same person...

Where is it that I look for these numbers? I looked after I took the lens block out...where is it?

Hi Matt,
If you don't find such a number on the rear part of the lens, that means that this part was not made by Zeiss.

Jacques.