Last week 20 year old Oliver Barnes struck gold when he found a 100 year old No 1 Pocket Kodak camera in an antique shop in Salisbury, UK, complete with used film.
Developing the film, Barnes discovered photographs from a century ago, of what appeared to be a crowd of people on a British high street in the 1950’s, among others.
The No 1 Pocket Kodak which went into production in the 1920s. It shoots 6x9cm negatives, which means you get eight images on a roll of 120, and the large size of the negatives gave period photographers a decent level of detail that could hold up when contact printing. These cameras were also used with Kodak’s special autographic film, which allowed photographers to pull a slot down at the back of the camera for writing either a date or a settings on the space between frames.
Mr Barnes took the film up the street to the Fujifilm Salisbury Photocenter into the hands of Ian Scott, who identified that this particular type of film did not go into production until the 1950s.
After posting the images to social media, and his own investigations, Mr Barnes discovered that the images of the crowd were taken in Chipping Sodbury in South Gloucestershire, England. The mystery wasn’t solved however, as people were desperate to find out what was going on in the images.
And now, it would appear that the mystery has been solved.
Theories on social media as to why a crowd had gathered included a royal visit, or maybe a drive through of American soldiers who were stationed nearby at the time.
However, the BBC has discovered that in 1948, the Good family made national news when Mrs Good delivered healthy quadruplets. The village put on a special event to welcome the family home and were gifted a “much-needed” washing machine.
Speaking on the discovery, Mr Barnes said: “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone else, but I’m so happy I went through this journey of trying to find out what it was because it’s such a relieving moment just to know what it was now.”
Another photograph still remains a mystery however, one of what appears to be two men wearing graduation gowns standing on a bridge that viewers have identified as St Andrews golf course in Scotland.
The identity of the two men has yet to be confirmed, and the BBC is still appealing for help to find out who theu are. If you think you can help, get in touch!
Take a look at our guides to the best Kodak camera, the best vintage camera, and the best film cameras.
