| Founded: | 1842 — New York City, NY, USA |
| Currently: | defunct |
Ansco was an American brand founded by Edward Anthony in 1842 as E. Anthony & Co. in New York City. In 1847, E. Anthony & Co. expanded into photographic supplies before becoming a camera manufacturer in 1870. Anthony merged his company in 1902 with Scovill & Adams, another camera manufacturer, to form Anthony & Scovill which become known by its shortened name “Ansco.”
Shortly after the merger and the moving of its headquarters to Binghamton, NY, Ansco filed a lawsuit in 1902 against the emerging giant Eastman Kodak for patent infringement regarding rollfilms and was awarded $5 million (about $118 million today) when the lawsuit ended a good twelve years later. However, the damage had already been done, leaving Ansco in financial dire straits despite the courts ruling in their favor.
In 1928, Ansco was bought out by the German photographic firm Agfa and rechristened as Agfa-Ansco. Agfa-Ansco began thriving after the takeover, producing significant amounts of cameras, films, and photographic papers. When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Ansco’s operations were seized by the US government as enemy property because of their German ties. A significant portion of production was shifted to military optics like sextants and bomber sights to aid the allied war effort and the “Agfa-Ansco” brand was reverted to just “Ansco.”
Business continued to boom for Ansco after World War II, producing 2 million cameras per year at its peak but things soon began slowing down and Ansco transitioned into selling rebranded cameras from other manufacturers like Agfa, Ricoh, Chinon, and Minolta in the 1950s. In 1967, Ansco changed their name to General Aniline & Film (GAF). They continued to sell their films and cameras under that name until they eventually withdrew from the consumer camera and film market in 1977.
In 1978, the Ansco trademark was sold to Hong Kong’s Haking Enterprises Ltd. which resurrected the company as the Ansco Photo-Optical Products Corporation. Haking Enterprises sold inexpensive plastic cameras under the Ansco name until the 1990s. The Ansco trademark registration was canceled by Haking in 2002 and has not been renewed since.
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 35-38, 48-58, 237, 263-264.
Osterman, Mark and Romer, Grant B. “History and Evolution of Photography,” in The Concise Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, edited by Michael R. Peres, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008), 43.
“Ansco (Serial Number 73185631),” United States Patent and Trademark Office, http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:lqohj0.3.4
“Ansco,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansco
“GAF Materials Corporation,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAF_Materials_Corporation
“Ansco,” Camera Wiki, http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Ansco
The Ansco Century of Progress is a commemorative version of the Ansco No. 2 Box camera made by Agfa-Ansco to be sold at the 1933 “Century of Progress” World’s Fair which took place in Chicago, USA. There were several branded cameras available at the 1933 World’s Fair including one based on the Kodak No. 2 Brownie as well as the cheap and cheerful “Yen Camera” from Japan.
The Ansco Anscomark M is an unusual 35mm interchangeable lens rangefinder manufactured for Ansco by Riken Optical Co., Ltd. (better known as Ricoh). A small percentage of the cameras produced were also sold as the Ricoh 999.
The Ansco Shur-Shot is a simple, mass-produced box camera made of wood, leatherette-wrapped cardboard, and aluminum introduced by Ansco in 1948. A combination of simple mechanics and large production numbers mean that it’s relatively easy to find a Shur-Shot in good working condition even today.
The Ansco Anscoflex is an unusual pseudo TLR camera introduced in 1954 by Ansco. The Anscoflex (and Anscoflex II) was crafted by the world-renowned French-American industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the same man whose portfolio includes the iconic Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, several steam locomotives for the Pennsylvania Railroad, various cars like the Studebaker Avanti, Sunbeam Alpine, and Hillman Minx, the interiors of the supersonic Concorde and NASA’s Skylab space station, as well as the livery for Air Force One. Small wonder he was referred to by the press as “The Father of Industrial Design.”
The Ansco Memo is an unusual 35mm half-frame box camera introduced in 1927 by Ansco. The “Memo” name has been used by Ansco and Agfa Ansco on several different 35mm models (for example the Memo II Automatic) over the years which can sometimes lead to confusion. To combat this, collectors will usually differentiate these models by including the year of introduction to avoid confusion. This particular model—which was the very first camera to bear the name—can also be referred to as the “Ansco Memo (1927 Type).”
The Ansco Karomat (also known as the Agfa Karat 36 and Agfa Karomat 36) is a 35mm rangefinder camera built by Agfa and introduced in 1951 by Ansco. Although based on Agfa’s original Karat which was designed to use the precursor to Agfa’s proprietary 35mm Rapid Film cartridge, the Karomat actually uses today’s standard Kodak 35mm cassette.
The Ansco Memo II Automatic is a 35mm half-frame camera introduced in 1967 by Ansco. The Memo II Automatic and the Ansco Memo Automatic from 1963 are actually the same exact camera, just re-released to reflect the name change from Ansco to General Aniline & Film (GAF). In turn, both cameras are rebadged versions of the Ricoh Auto Half and were manufactured by Ricoh for sale by Ansco. The Memo Automatic from 1963 is not to be confused with the original Ansco Memo, a 35mm half-frame box camera from 1927.
The Agfa PD16 Clipper is one of the very first cameras produced by German company Agfa after its acquisition of the American company Ansco, thus forming Agfa-Ansco. Like the early offerings of many photographic company mergers, this camera was sold under both brands as the Agfa PD16 Clipper and the Ansco Clipper although it appears that they were all made in the very same American factory in Binghamton, NY.
The Agfa B-2 Cadet is a simple box camera introduced in 1937 by Agfa. Even though the Cadet is a German camera designed in Germany, it was actually manufactured in Binghamton, New York in the factory of American camera company Ansco since they were owned by Agfa at the time. In fact, the company was known as Agfa-Ansco from 1928 until 1941 when the United States entered the Second World War and seized control of Ansco back from the Germans.
