The Cooke 270mm f/4.5 Portrait Anastigmat Series IIE is a long-focus large-format portrait lens, designed in the classic Cooke tradition for studio and outdoor portraiture where smooth rendering and controlled sharpness on big negatives were the priority. Its 270mm focal length and f/4.5 maximum aperture suit whole-plate and 8x10 cameras, and the Series IIE designation places it within Cooke's dedicated portrait line rather than their general-purpose process or taking optics.

UK auction evidence for this lens is thin: the only recorded hammer result we can verify is £1,062 at a UK saleroom in March 2023, which is the wholesale price achieved before buyer's premium. With a single data point the median and range collapse to that same figure, so as of today in 2026 the fair market value of a clean, working example sits around the four-figure mark, though condition, shutter presence and barrel completeness can move what one actually sells for materially in either direction.