Leningrad

Now known as St Petersburg, having originally been known as... St Petersburg....

Another auction win, this time a bonus in a little lot of three cameras. In the Extras is the little, lovely bakelite Russian slide viewer from the 50s, that was in it original box, with its original manufacturing certificate (stamped 1954); and included a batch of 20 slides showing views of Leningrad (and praise be to the Google Translate app). 

Perfectly basic, it was in a few bits, but I managed to work out the framing around the light diffuser on the back, and while the lens was loose, and clearly a backing to it to hold it in place was missing, I managed to get it stuck into position. Hold the back up to the light through a window, move the lens carrier back and forth to focus, and completely filling your vision is an amazing snapshot into 50s Soviet Russia (and it's not at all the dull, grey images that were portrayed, which brought to mind an excellent book I read about East Germany during the Cold War, called Beyond the Wall).

In this image, if you look closely enough, there a chap walking with a lady (his girlfriend?) and he's dressed like a Soviet Cliff Richard. Shirt unbuttoned a few down from the collar, jeans tight across the, er, important area, easing out into a slight flair. And that's before we get onto the fabulous bus.

I'd intended on selling this on after fixing it, but it's too nice for that just yet (and if I get any auction lots with slides in it it's a brilliantly low-tech, but perfectly functioning, way to view them - made me think of the joke about NASA spending millions designing a pen that would work in space, while the USSR sent their cosmonauts up with pencils....).