What's The Oddest Thing You've Bought At A Hamfest?

I've got a real affinity for the unusual and the quirky. It can be radios, time pieces, dogs, tropical fish, computers, you name it. If it's quirky and catches my eye (and I can afford it), it often follows me home.

So it is with hamfest finds. Time was, I'd go to a hamfest and fill my truck with all sorts of odd stuff, often stuff with zero connection to ham radio or communications in general. Radiation detector? Check. Rifle bayonet? Check. WWII British 'Brody' helmet? Check. Military backpack? Check. Old National Geographics? Check. An old rotary-style pay phone? (Almost) check. 

So it was, years ago at a local hamfest, that I was wandering the boneyard and spied a large cardboard box labeled '$10 for anything in this box'. I peeked in and found a bunch of stuff that had nothing to do with ham radio. But boy, what neat stuff! The seller said everything in the box was from an SK estate and he wanted to get rid of it all, fast. I only bought two items - a set of binoculars (more about those in a minute), and this beauty, a Swiss made Bolex D8L 8mm camera:

I don't shoot 8mm movies (although you can still buy the film), but I am a great admirer of optical instruments and exquisite industrial design. Let me tell you, this little jewel registers a full 10 on the industrial design meter. Built at a time (between 1959 and 1961) when manufacturers could lavish time and materials on practical items, and sprinkled with just enough Rube Goldberg (look him up) inspired meters, setting switches, levers, winding keys, triggers and lens ring adjustments to keep even the non-Asperger's among us fascinated for hours. All wrapped up in polished aluminum, chrome and Morocco leather

For me, the icing on the cake are the lenses. Manufactured by Kern in Switzerland, they are high end optics and were, I'm sure, a large part of the overall cost of the camera. Never heard of Kern? At one time they competed with another Swiss company, Wild, as a world-leading manufacturer of optical surveying equipment, binoculars, and other high end optical instruments.

I displayed this on a shelf for a time, then tucked it away in a camera bag. A few days ago, while doing a major clean-out, I stumbled on it and almost tossed it on the junk pile (after all, I only paid $10 for it), but as I got it in my hands I once again was captivated by the craftsmanship and design. No, no junk pile for this beauty. I'll likely mount it on a table tripod and offer it to my granddaughter as a classic example of what was once possible without microprocessors, wi-fi and the internet.

Now, the binoculars. These came out of the same box and, again, for just $10. A pair of very dusty/grimy Bausch & Lomb 7 x 50 binoculars. I recognized the design instantly, and I hoped they were US military marked (both the Army & Navy used this design from WWII through the 1980s), but they carried only commercial markings. This meant they were likely made soon after WWII for sale on the civilian market. I took them home, cleaned the grime off of the outside, then carefully cleaned the optics. I expected scratches, rub spots and/or damaged coatings on the glass. To my delight, the optics were in great shape, almost perfect. The eyepiece focus rings were a little stiff but, considering the age, that's to be expected. I shipped them off to an optical repair shop in Arizona with instructions to inspect and provide an estimate of repair. Late one Friday afternoon I got a call from the shop. They had inspected the binoculars and told me they were in nearly perfect condition, physically and optically. The only thing the shop recommended was to do a routine service, make sure there was no fungus starting to grow on the inside (a common problem with binoculars of this era), check the collimation (the alignment of the two halves of the binoculars) and seal everything up. A few weeks later I had my binos back, and they have been one of my go-to pairs ever since.  

So that's my odd hamfest find story. Do you have one? Let's hear it!

W8BYH out