Vintage Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 Folding Camera, 1940s Art Deco Bellows

Vintage Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 Folding Camera, 1940s Art Deco Bellows

A Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20, made by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. The nameplate on the folding bed spells it out in full — KODAK VIGILANT JUNIOR SIX-20, MADE IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY — so there's no guesswork about this one.

It takes 620 roll film at 6×9cm, with a Kodet meniscus lens in a Dak shutter: T, B and I settings, apertures f/12.5 through f/32. The bed drops and the bellows ride out on polished nickel struts with fluted Art Deco detailing, and a frame finder flips up from the side. Kodak built the Vigilant Junior between 1940 and 1948, and it sold new for about $11.

Condition is honest for its age — the leatherette is rubbed and scuffed throughout and has lifted at the two lower back corners. The body is solid and the bellows look intact in the folds, but I haven't light-tested them or run film through it, so I'm selling it as a display piece rather than a working camera.

7.3" x 3.3" x 1.4" closed, 1.5 lbs.

It folds flat or stands open on its own bed, and looks good either way — a shelf, a desk, or in with a camera collection.

I can also ship it.

No. 235802