That one time I found a 50-year-old shutter curtain in a box of junk

I was cleaning out a storage unit last fall and found this beat up old box labeled "parts". Inside was a shutter curtain from a 1950s Zeiss Ikon that looked almost new. I've seen those things corrode to nothing after 30 years in a basement. But this one had been wrapped in wax paper and stored in a dry closet. The rubber was still flexible, no pinholes anywhere. Made me wonder how many perfectly good parts get thrown away because people don't store them right. Has anyone else stumbled across a hidden gem like that in old junk piles?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_thomas6d ago

Did the wax paper actually keep it that fresh?

the_linda7d ago

Read somewhere that old camera stuff was made with a different kind of rubber that actually lasts longer if kept dry. Sounds like whoever wrapped that one knew what they were doing.

norab216d ago

Rubber from the 60s and 70s actually had more sulfur in it which makes it crack faster when dry.