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Taylor, Taylor, & Hobson 5 Inch f/2.8 T3.1 Ortal 127mm TV

The Taylor, Taylor & Hobson 5 Inch f/2.8 (T3.1) Ortal 127mm is a British-made television broadcast lens, a fixed-focal-length optic rated with both an aperture (f/2.8) and a transmission stop (T3.1) as was standard practice for cine and TV glass. Built by the Leicester maker better known to collectors as Cooke, the Ortal series was designed for mid-century studio and outside-broadcast cameras rather than still photography.

At recent UK auction, hammer prices for this Ortal have sat in a wide band: four copies sold together in late 2025 at £100 each, a single example reached £190 in January 2026, while back in 2019 three lenses from the same sale fetched £624 to £720. That gives a long-run range of £100 to £720 and a recent median of around £100, so today a clean standalone example typically sells for the lower end of that spread at saleroom level, with the older cluster showing what buoyant demand and better provenance can do to the value. Buyers tracking what a 127mm Ortal is worth should note that condition and presentation drive as much of the price as the optics themselves.

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Sales History

Prices shown are UK auction hammer results — the wholesale level achieved in the saleroom. Neither buyer’s nor seller’s commission is included. Dealer and retail asking prices are typically higher.

Date Price Source
Jan 2026 £190 Special Auction Services
Nov 2025 £100 Special Auction Services
Nov 2025 £100 Special Auction Services
Nov 2025 £100 Special Auction Services
Nov 2025 £100 Special Auction Services
Jul 2023 £400 Flints Auctions
Apr 2019 £720 Flints Auctions
Apr 2019 £624 Flints Auctions
Apr 2019 £720 Flints Auctions

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