Selenium Light Meter ..... Chrome, glass, celluloid.
factory : FED, Kharkov, USSR .... year :1938 .... serial # : E-3828
notes: This light meter is just 1 1/8" tall, with a diameter of 2". It weighs just under 8 oz. It has a selenium cell, covered with glass on one side and a curved celluloid window to view the meter. Engraved guides for: Film speeds of 100 to 1600 (old X & D exposure system speeds) ... Times of 8 minutes to 1/1000 second ... Aperture settings of f:1.5 to f:18.
This meter has its factory original, fabric-covered, felt-lined inner box and outer box. The outer box has Cyrillic writing in pen on the inside lid, which reads: "Exposuremeter 1222/300". This light meter was bought during World War II, along with a FED camera, by American photographer, C. L. Sands, and bears his name on the top lid of the outer box. The meter reacts only slightly to strong light due to a worn out selenium cell.
more photos at:: nightphoto.com
Three series seem to exist with body in bakelite, aluminium or chromed brass.
In the known serial numbers below, the prefix "3" which sometimes appears seems to be an "E" in cyrillic (probably for Exposure). (info Jacques M.).
The light meter in Nathan Dayton's cased FED set has no serial number and the meter scale is hand written and colored.
#3-2311 has a clamshell type brown leather case with a snap.
Known serial numbers:
3-454---------PYC
3-681 -------- AlexanderK collection
3-721 -------- seen on eBay
3-1533 ------ Soviet Camera store
3-2000 ------ Alain Berry collection
3-2311 ------ Nathan Dayton collection
3-3828 ------ W. Parkinson collection
4523 -------- Chris Sabine collection
4599----------seen on Molotok
5528 --------- seen on eBay
6167 --------- AlexanderK collection
6243 --------- seen on Molotok
6446 --------- Jacques collection.
7271 --------- David Tomlinson
7569 --------- imcphoto collection
7689 --------- SovietCams
9982 --------- Fotomuda (chromed brass)
10470 -------- seen on eBay.
11906---------seen on eBay.
11153 -------- Christian G. (Niko80)
11845 -------- PYC collection. Aluminium.
11930 -------- seen on eBay.
12110 -------- seen on eBay.