a “Flotemar” (?) camera as photographed by Bob Lansdale
Toronto. The late John Kantymir and his father both collected cameras – some very rare. One camera John came across simply had the name “FLOTEMAR” embossed on its base. No other name or country was indicated. A Google search was as unsuccessful then (2012/13) as now (2024).
Please note that the photo (at left) was taken by Bob Lansdale and ‘upscaled’ in Topaz Photo AI which still mangles text occasionally as it did here.
Perhaps the camera is German. In German Flote means flute and mar means sea or in English ‘sea flute’. A search on Google for sea flute shows it to be a type of Norwegian recorder copied from German recorders of the day imported by sea, hence ‘sea flute’ in Norwegian. So perhaps our mystery camera is called ‘Recorder’ . Who knows?
Editor Bob Lansdale suggests, “John Kantymir comes up with some weird and wonderful cameras for his “A Treasure from my collection” column but here is a cameras that has completely stumped him.
“With the name Flotemar engraved on a medallion ensconced on the outside bed of this folder, it leads to no data as the company or country of manufacture.
“It is quite a unique camera in its odd shape and its two-part construction; it may be a one-off pre-production model that never went into manufacture. Quite a hefty camera at 3.2 pounds which might have something to do with its non-production.”
The column appears in issue 39-1 of our journal. Members back then read the hard copy version of 39-1. More recently, members can read about this strange camera in the pdf version of 39-1 which appears on our DVD (it covers all volumes of Photographic Canadiana from 1 to 40). And you are STILL not a member? Okay, let the moths loose and follow the menu item “MEMBERSHIP” above, or the PayPal set-up in the right hand sidebar. Once your membership is received, a copy of the DVD will be sent to you by Canada Post.
