A W. Lawley 5x5" Wet Plate Sliding Box Camera£720
12 Nov 2025 · Flints Auctions · lot 473 · Fine Photographicapremium removed
+ lens
Lawley Wet plate camera
camera
The Lawley Wet plate camera has 2 recorded sales: £720 (12 Nov 2025, Flints Auctions) and £350 (28 Jan 2021, Flints Auctions). That is too few for a typical price.
Recorded sales
Only 2 sales — too few for a typical price, so here they are.
A W. Lawley & Sons Wet Plate Tailboard Camera£350
28 Jan 2021 · Flints Auctions · lot 726 · Cameras, Scientific & Collectablespremium removed
+ lens
Sales only
Hammer prices, buyer’s premium removed; eBay as soldHow ↗
What it is
{"overview":"The Lawley Wet plate camera is a 19th-century wet-collodion plate camera, a large-format wooden field instrument used with hand-coated glass plates exposed and developed while still wet. Condition of the bellows, ground glass and woodwork, along with the presence of original plate holders and a period lens, can swing the price a wet-plate camera sells for considerably either side of that figure.","buying_guide":"Inspect the wooden body for shrinkage cracks, warped standards and worm damage, and check the bellows for light leaks at the corners.
Generated summary, 13 May 2026 — not checked by hand; prices on this page come from the sales, not from this text.
Other Wets
Questions
What affects the value of a wet plate camera like this?
Completeness drives price: an original lens, intact bellows, sound woodwork and surviving plate holders all push the value up, while missing parts or heavy restoration pull it down.
Facts
- Maker
- Lawley
- Type
- camera
- Sales in the typical price
- 2
- First sale
- 28 Jan 2021
- Latest sale
- 12 Nov 2025
- Evidence
- Sales only
- Method
- v1
Cite this page
“Lawley Wet plate camera: 2 recorded sales, 2021–2025; no typical price (method v1).” cameraworth.com, retrieved 8 October 2026. https://www.cameraworth.com/l/lawley/wet-plate-camera/