Fed stereo lens. Fake or original? How to know?

A very good item dated presumibly from pre war era.
But observe: Coated lenses. This could be a strong point of a probable fake. There are some from Poland in which the scale focus are only representative and have no function at all. Lenses came from Smena.
LP

So far all I've seen 3 or 4 were homemade Poland versions.

All I can say is, Looks pretty good, and would certainly have fooled me if it wasn't genuine!
Regards, Jim.

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Originally posted by okynek

Fed stereo lens. Fake or original? How to know?

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It's easy: most probably that ALL this lenses are a fakes. ;)

This lens sells very good for a fake! My understanding too that all of these FED-Stemar lenses are fakes made in Poland and that FED never really made a lens like this. They always look to be in great condition ... never any wear ;-)

Regards, Bill

I also believe all of these lenses to be fakes. To me the telling factors are: the lenses themselves are from Smenas, they are all in "like new" condition, there is no viewfinder and there is no documentation. The lack of documentation is telling! There should be pre-war mention in the literature of such an important piece! Considering that other items have shown up with boxes and docs(I have several myself), it strains belief that, considering what they would have cost, these would not show up boxed with instructions!

I agreed with all this. But I was thinking - you can't get smoke without fire, if fake lenses show up, it must be original somewhere?? At list prototypes should exist?

Hi everybody,
Okynek, I must say that I'm pleased you posted this topic. I didn't know that these fakes existed, and if you hadn't made this post I might even have bought one!
So thanks for the warning. This is one item that shall remain absent from my Fed collection.
Best wishes, Jim.

Well, it bought yesterday by known to us yuriy1974 for $641( + shipping). (yuriy1974 was winner of green Military Kiev )
Congratulation Yuriy ones again!

Let me throw in this. I am ex-military intelligence and am very dubious about the "Military" Kievs because the paint color does not match the standard colors for Soviet Military Equipment. Any of you who have been in the military know that they are pains in the ass about this sort of thing!

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Originally posted by okynek

...But I was thinking - you can't get smoke without fire, if fake lenses show up, it must be original somewhere?? At list prototypes should exist?

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Yes: exist. Leitz Stemar. ;)

The same story is a story about "Zorki-250" ("Reporter")...

The best way to authenticate something: to find a documentation (User manual, packaging, etc.).

Well, Leitz ideas were prototypes for most if not all of Zorki and FED staff. It is not the point. Discovery of documentation certainly would help. But it would also raise questions about ethnicity of such documentation. As you may know forging of papers is much easy then forge camera or lens. In fact if I would think to make fake camera or lens to sell for big $$, I would start from forging paperwork before taking on fabrication of the camera/lens. Absents of documentation is argument to certain extends because from 100th cameras sold on eBay only few have manuals or pastor survived. So if only few such attachments were ever made, all papers may be lost. Statistically speaking we need to find 100th such attachments before we can find one passport or manuals.
Again, absents of documentation is a strong point. But it does not means that we have to discard completely possibilities of existing authentic FED Stereo attachment, or Zorki 250, or other stuff. I believe we have to be skeptical when we find such unusual staff, but at the same time we have to keep our eyes open.
From my experience working in Soviet industry from 10 completed projects less then 1 made to production. And countless unfinished projects were neglected and forgotten. With all documentation destroyed. Can this item be one of such unfortunate projects?
Just look on Ladoga, or GOMZ-Stereo, or other unusual cameras in Wiki.
I strongly believe it could be more mystery in these items. And I hope we will discover them soon!
And, honestly, I still thinking that that Zorki 250 you mentioned has stories to tell. Too many strange staff was added to it, That contradict with simple intentions to forge and sell camera for a profit.
All above is just my personal opinion.

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Originally posted by okynek

As you may know forging of papers is much easy then forge camera or lens.

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Sorry... NO! You are mistaken.
Paper, inks, fonts, points (Russia and a West countries uses differing typographic measurement systems*), relief printing technology, text: contents and style, clips, etc... This is a high level of a falsification...

*) -- now, with a computer-based typography, it is not so important...

I agree with Zoom. For a living I am an art and antiques dealer for 30 years and I am very familiar with fakes and reproductions of many objects. It is very difficult to fake papers. Much more difficult to fake the age and details of papers and original boxes than it is to make a fake object and to make an object appear old. Many times it is easy to be fooled by an object, but almost never by paper objects.

It may be easy to fake new paper objects, but to make them look old is difficult. To fake an original box, passport for camera / lens, or especially an original box would be almost impossible.

Also, something like the Zorki-250 or this FED stereo lens would almost certainly have been mentioned in an issue of Sovetskoe Foto or one of the many Soviet books about photographic equipment.

Regards, Bill

Bill,
I totally agree that the best way to authenticate items such as the Fed stereo lens, and the Zorki-250 is through contemporary literature of the time.
Perhaps it's difficult to do, but nevertheless passports, receipts, and boxes can all be faked.
Literature of the period cannot be faked, and an item or article about a certain piece of photo equipment is a historic factual document that can be irrefutable proof that the said item existed. Contemporary literature is historic hard evidence that cannot be questioned.
On the other hand if an item is offered for sale and there is no reference or hard evidence of it's existence in any literature of the time then we should be very suspicious.
During the past few months there have been quite a few items of dubious authenticity showing up either at shops, or auction sites. For example the so called "Fed-Sport".
The Fed-Stereo lens is another. This was supposedly on open sale and would have been well documented in books and articles if it existed.
Best wishes, Jim.

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Originally posted by nathandayton

Let me throw in this. I am ex-military intelligence and am very dubious about the "Military" Kievs because the paint color does not match the standard colors for Soviet Military Equipment. Any of you who have been in the military know that they are pains in the ass about this sort of thing!

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I studied this Kiev and, as the man REALLY working on a military factory, I can tell, that it is an original paint used in that time on Soviet Military Equipment. Besides the form of drawing such as assignment and classification, corresponds to assignment: for air photography.

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Originally posted by James McGee

Perhaps it's difficult to do, but nevertheless passports, receipts, and boxes can all be faked.

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Only one objection: I never saw a forged passports nor any other faked papers... ;)

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Originally posted by dmzi

I studied this Kiev and, as the man REALLY working on a military factory, I can tell, that it is an original paint used in that time on Soviet Military Equipment.

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What camera you are talking about?

Zoom,
With all due respect, if as you say "I never saw forged passports, or any other faked papers", how could you know?
best wishes, Jim.

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Originally posted by James McGee

...how could you know?

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All known real fakes had nothing documents. Besides: all doubtful things had no documents too!..