Down memory lane with 1958 Monkey Wards Photographic catalog (Page 2): Year of the catalogue is the year I was married.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Year of the catalogue is the year I was married.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Bill 45 wrote:

Wards was the last place I think a person would look for Leica, Rolleiflex, 4X5 Graphics Camera. The cost of any one of those camera in 1958 was more than income my mother and father made in an month in 1958.

Back then Wards and Sears were a different kind of store than what you would find today. Of course, Wards went out of business many years ago. Sears is headed that way.

delder Loc: Maryland

Bill 45 wrote:

Wards was the last place I think a person would look for Leica, Rolleiflex, 4X5 Graphics Camera. The cost of any one of those camera in 1958 was more than income my mother and father made in an month in 1958.

Well, if you didn't live in a major metro area, your retail camera/photography options were seriously limited. Sears & Wards were the Amazon of the last century. [Sears even sold Houses!]

I grew up in a smallish town and just about anything technological had to be special ordered or Mail Order.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

imagemeister wrote:

From the golden age of camera-dom and my camera mu... (show quote)

I have an Argus C44 with flashgun as shown on the first page you posted. Popping the $75.50 price of a Yashica Mat into my inflation calculator came up as about $800! I had a Yashica Mat 124G in the 1970s that I paid $129 for.

Thanks for the nostalgia. Montgomery Wards is still around today, but most of their cameras are cheap things that appeal to kids and teens.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

imagemeister wrote:

From the golden age of camera-dom and my camera mu... (show quote)

These old ads are so much fun to gawk at! Of course, I was only 8 in 1958, so hadn't bought anything yet. But I did see my Yashica Mat Twin Lens Reflex shown there that I bought not so many years later.

1958 - My mother used her trusty Brownee in those days. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea when I decided to completely take it apart one day using my father's tools. All the King's Horses and all the King's Men never put that one back together again.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

imagemeister wrote:

From the golden age of camera-dom and my camera mu... (show quote)

RKL349 Loc: Connecticut

imagemeister wrote:

From the golden age of camera-dom and my camera mu... (show quote)

Very cool.

CliffMcKenzie Loc: Lake Athens Texas

luvmypets wrote:

That catalog is a year older than I am! LOL!! Wouldn't we all like to be able to purchase cameras at those prices!!

Dodie

Dodie, well, maybe not. The Lecia for $444 in 1958 would be $4,634.41 in 2023.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Thanks for sharing this! 1958 was the year I arrived. It’s fun seeing how things were presented and marketed back then. The graphics, prices, terms. All fun to see.

Stats153

Adjusted for inflation, $444 for the Leica is $4596 in 2023. (oops, I see others have already commented on inflation)

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

CliffMcKenzie wrote:

Dodie, well, maybe not. The Lecia for $444 in 1958 would be $4,634.41 in 2023.

Still less than half what a new Leica goes for.

Stan

clickety

charles brown wrote:

Back then Wards and Sears were a different kind of store than what you would find today. Of course, Wards went out of business many years ago. Sears is headed that way.

I believe at one time the top executives of Sears and Wards were brothers. The surname was Brennan if my memory is correct. I always wondered what the holiday dinners were like?

Otterbug

That 8mm Brownie combo exist in my attic. Belonged to my mother, but I have no idea where they were purchased. Could have been Wards!

radiojohn

I briefly had a Kalimar Reflex 6x6 SLR with the standard lens. I met a guy who did engineering work for the Navy. He bought every one he could find because he modified them to capture the flow of water out of big fire hose nozzle designs the Navy was considering. Not sure what he did, but he had 8x10s of the water coming out the nozzle and twisting around in separate streams like a piece of yarn! I guess the idea was to find the nozzle with the least interference between streams.

radiojohn

I briefly had a Kalimar Reflex 6x6 SLR with the standard lens. I met a guy who did engineering work for the Navy. He bought every one he could find because he modified them to capture the flow of water out of big fire hose nozzle designs the Navy was considering. Not sure what he did, but he had 8x10s of the water coming out the nozzle and twisting around in separate streams like a piece of yarn! I guess the idea was to find the nozzle with the least interference between streams.