Unknown Magazine Camera

Unique camera for plates 9x12cm in fine and original condition. The body or this interesting camera is made from a steel structure, to which the outer brown wooden parts are mounted. It is a magazine camera that stores about twenty dry plates. The plates are changed by tilting the camera and operating a push/pull lever. The un-engraved lens seems to be a Rectilinear type (symmetric, four elements in two groups). Behind the diaphragm there is a bi-lamellar shutter that is released by a small brass knob, a lever arms the mechanism, another changes the shutter from T to instant, and a third lever swivels the diaphragm wheel with its three apertures (f/8, f/11 and f/16). Black, square textile bellows. The finder has a swing-out front frame and a folding diopter in the camera body. All (!) mechanics are precisely made of steel. For storage the lens/shutter/viewfinder unit can be laterally disengaged from the folding bed, the bellows retract, and it then neatly fits into the body. Closing the folding bed (which is then secured by a pin) protects the whole mechanism. The closed camera has no protruding elements and is remarkably small. The camera, that has no engravings or designations whatsoever, seems to date from the late 19th century and may be of Russian (alleged history) or French (quality of make) origin.