using a ‘gold’ coating to sell
Toronto. .. is gold. Some camera makers did use a gold coating occasionally to sell a particular model to those with expensive tastes. For example, Leitz sold a Leica model it called a ‘Lexus”. It was made with typical Leica quality and has a special coating – gold on the metal; a rare material for the traditional gutta percha.
Others implied a camera had gold trim or was made of gold. In that case, a word resembling gold was used in their advertising to sell less expensive, more pedestrian cameras. My friend George Dunbar in his search for photographic history amongst old ads and articles, found this rather small ad by Bass Camera from the mid-west in the first issue of LIFE magazine. Here they call a small half frame (half vest pocket) ‘folder’ a GOLDI.
The camera may have been made expressly for Bass by a small German factory. The Goldi comes with a variety of lenses and leaf shutters. The version promoted by Bass in this ad is at the less expensive end of the range offered by the maker, Zeh.
