vtg ENSIGN AUTORANGE 820 Folding 6X9 Camera, 120 film, mostly WORKS, LO START

Description

I’m selling my ENSIGN AUTORANGE 820 6x9cm 120 FILM CAMERA (820 refers to 8 exposures on 120 film, if you were curious). It is all that and a bag of chips, but I just don’t use it much anymore and I need cash. If you’re reading this spiel, you know what it is, but to recap: This is the ne plus ultra of Ensign, a British firm that started out in the glass plate days as Houghton and Butcher, and died with this camera— they thought that 35mm was a passing fad, and that bulky medium format folders with unsurpassed optics would carry the day. The Auotrange 820 has a coupled RF; combined RF/VF window with excellent frame lines; a rare focusing system that moves the whole LENS ASSEMBLY instead of just the front lens element; permanently mounted, un-losable swing-in masks for 6x6 cm; and the justly famous ‘FULLY COLOUR-CORRECTED’ version of the TOTL ROSS XPRES 105mm F/3.8 LENS.
Although they never used the word, it seems likely to me and others that it is an APOCHROMATIC lens, focusing the red, blue, and green components of white light onto one focal plane (most lenses, even expensive ones, are achromatic, meaning they focus 2 of the 3 onto the same plane). As I almost always shoot B+W anymore, apochromaticity is kind of wasted on me.
This particular camera is in decent, age-appropriate shape. Since it came from England, the first thing I did was to put it out in the California sun with the shutter set open, to arrest any incipient fungus that might be in the lens coatings The front elements are reasonably clear, a couple streaks; the back element has some spots. None seem to affect picture quality, according to me and several lab guys, who commented on the detail in the negatives they processed. They could be cleaned up by a good lens guy— I am not a good lens guy, and the performance of the lens as-is is still jaw-dropping. The shutter’s slow speeds (1 sec-1/10 sec) are all slow, but the higher speeds work well enough. A good shutter guy can fix this (the Epsilon shutters are not complex), but I am etc etc. You get the idea. I’ve used it as is; I’m selling it as a more or less working candidate for the restore route, at a comparatively low start of EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY NINE DAMN U.S. DOLLARS. Shipping will be a flat FORTY-FIVE BUCKS in the CONUS, most of the cost covering full insurance and signature requirements . I don’t have the correct case for it, but I’ll throw in an Ensign Selfix ‘ever-ready’ case that could be made to fit well with some re-sewing. Still the cheapest 820 Autorange on the ‘bay right now, and probably for a good long time, as these are very rare and getting very rarer.
THE FINE PRINT: NO RETURNS. Description is as thorough as I can make it and take it (take photos, that is). AK, HI, PR buyers- wait for my invoice, as shipping may well be higher. International shipping: 1) eBay Global Shipping Program is fine by me. 2) I will not make any alternative valuations for customs purposes.  3) Your use or non-use of sketchy dropbox re-shippers (outside eBGSP) is your own business and at your own risk. Payment is due in 48 hours, or sale will be cancelled and item relisted.