Univex Mercury Vintage Art Deco 35mm Camera - For Parts or a Pretty Paperweight

Description

Hello,
I'm the old camera dude. I sell old cameras and photography supplies. All bidding starts at , up for sale today...
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Univex Mercury
Vintage Art Deco 35mm Camera
The camera is not in working condition. The shutter moves, but that is about all. The camera is being sold 'as-is' for parts or as a pretty paperweight. It has been well used, please look closely at all the photos before bidding.
Thank you,
The Old Camera Dude
Shipping with USPS Priority Mail
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FROM COLLECTOR'S WEEKLY
The Universal Camera Corporation found great success in the early/mid-1930s by selling very inexpensive
cameras
and film. By the late ’30s, however, the camera-buying public was increasingly interested in high-end imports such as the
Leica
and Contax lines—the simple plastic still cameras offered by Universal up to that point were no competition.
Universal rectified the matter in October of 1938 with the release of the Univex Mercury (Model CC). Cast from an aluminum alloy and covered with leather, the Mercury was not only unlike anything Universal had offered before, it was actually a revolutionary achievement in the industry. I won’t go into all the features, but two are worth noting: First was the unique rotary shutter (responsible for the circular protrusion on top of the camera), capable of extremely accurate speeds up to 1/1000th of a second. Second, the Mercury was the first camera to have internal flash synchronization, known today as the hot shoe.
German-made cameras from Leitz and Zeiss were selling for hundreds of dollars, making the American-made Mercury a very appealing alternative at a mere . Nonetheless, producing America’s fastest candid camera did not satisfy Universal, as the Contax II claimed a shutter speed of 1/1250. Thus, in June of 1939, Universal introduced the Mercury Model CC-1500, named after its top shutter speed.
For collectors, the CC-1500 is a rare find, as only an estimated 3,000 were manufactured, compared to approximately 45,000 of the standard Mercury Model CC. The example pictured above is equipped with a Wollensak f/2.7 Tricor lens, and sold new in 1939 for .75. The camera was also available with a Hexar f2.0 lens (rare today), an option that more than doubled the price of the outfit to a whopping !