After a certain amount of poking around I found—not a list of serial numbers, but an explanation of the codes Kodak used to identify when a particular Brownie camera was made. They used a four-place letter/number transposition code known as the “camerosity” code, similar to the ones shopkeepers use to mark their cost on the price tags of antiques or the flyleaves of books. (I use just such a code on my own books.) From this, I discovered that the Bull’s Eye was made in June 1955 and the Reflex 20 was made in November 1959. For the life of me I can’t find a code on the Hawkeye, and it may be that it wasn’t marked. Kodak wasn’t completely consistent about using it, as the man who explained about the code noted. All I can say about it is that it was made sometime between 1950 and 1961.
I pulled apart the Reflex and oiled the shutter pivot points, and it does seem to move more smoothly than it did before. I think I’ll try loading up another roll of film and see what happens.
Tiny Tim, wearing his opulent opium pendant, defects to the insane cork. Fnord.
