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To: Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
About that Minox camera:

Minox is a former Latvian, now German, manufacturer of miniature cameras. They are most famous for their range of subminiature espionage cameras such as the Minox-B that became extremely popular during the Cold War when it was used on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The CIA used Minox cameras from WWII to 1974 and the Soviets even used them until the late 1990s.

During WWII, it was so popular that it was difficult for the various intelligence agencies to obtain enough Minox cameras for their tasks. Ironically, they were first built in Latvia under Russian control, then under German occupation and then under Russian control again. After WWII, production was moved to Germany, where the first Minox-B cameras were built.

It really is a very tiny camera and has been featured in several post WWII spy movies. With regard to Oswald possessing one...at that time they weren't easy to come by as well as being very expensive. The tiny 8mm film cassettes, in addition to being very uncommon, usually had to be sent off for special processing. For the true enthusiast a tiny enlarger, film developing tanks, special chemistry kits and othe accessories were necessary to make home prints. All in all a very surprising and remarkable camera to be found in the possession of a man unable to support his family and essentially homeless. Not one to make snaps juniors first steps. Because of their rarity, a check of the serial number would have easily traced its path back to its source. A good reason for it to have "disappeared". Wonder if the SN was recorded.

I have 3 models from my dads collection along with the enlarger and full accessory kit. An interesting feature was the slender carry chain which had beads with which to measure the proper focusing placement of the camera for document photography. Genuine spy stuff. ;>)

119 posted on 10/22/2017 4:50:41 PM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: Covenantor

My now deceased stepfather had an assortment of Minox cameras which my mother gave to the Minox corporate office upon his death. She received a very nice letter from them thanking her for the gift which they said they were going to put on display at their corporate headquarters.


126 posted on 10/22/2017 5:06:54 PM PDT by MarDav
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To: Covenantor

99% of us had no idea the relevance of the quality of this camera, thanks. So we are led to believe that the homeless, car-less unconnected lone gunman Oswald just happened to possess a highly sophisticated expensive camera for his own generic purposes.

Well, it gets better, after the camera is recorded missing and the Warren Commission is demanding accountability from the FBI, we get these series of lies concocted by Ruth Paine & the FBI:

“In an effort to “locate” the camera, Dallas FBI Agent Bardwell Odum on January 30, 1964, contacted Ruth Paine to inquire into whether the Paines owned a Minox camera.

Ruth recollected that her husband had a Minox which he had dropped into salt water several years ago; she was sure that he had thrown it away but she would ask him about it and get back to him. She also stated that the police took a Minox camera case along with a light meter belonging to Michael which may or may not have been a Minox light meter.

The next day on January 31, 1964, Ruth Paine called Odum to tell him that her husband still had the camera and that it was in a coffee can in the garage.

If this was true, one would have to conclude that the local police not only did a poor job of searching the garage the weekend of the assassination but also fabricated the Minox camera on both its original inventory list and joint DPD/FBI list. Since this was not the case, the collusion of the Paines is readily apparent.”

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-paine-s-participation-in-the-minox-camera-charade


146 posted on 10/22/2017 6:22:36 PM PDT by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
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