huge lot of vintage american 20th century folding and box type "brownie" cameras salvaged from an old electric camera repair shop located in chicago. the lot contains a wide variety of models fabricated throughout the first half of the 20th century. the "brownie" was the name given to a extremely popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by eastman kodak. the brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot. the first brownie, introduced in february, 1900, was a very basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that took 2¼-inch square pictures on 117 rollfilm. with its simple controls and initial price of $1, it was intended to be a camera that anyone could afford and use, leading to the popular slogan, "you push the button, we do the rest." the camera was named after the popular cartoons created by palmer cox. priced for the lot.