100-year-old No 1 Pocket Kodak camera found with used film of photos of a mystery event

A huge fan of antique cameras has struck gold after discovering a 100 year old Kodak in Salisbury’s Antique Market, complete with used film.

20-year-old Oliver Barnes had the film developed, revealing century-old snaps of what appeared to be a British high street from the 1950s.

After posting the images to social media and a fair amount of his own detective work, Mr Barnes discovered that the images were of Chipping Sodbury in South Gloucestershire, England, where the images have caused quite a stir.

"It's amazing; it's my favorite place to go to in Salisbury," he told the BBC of the antique market.

The camera is a No1 Pocket Kodak which went into production in the 1920s. It shoots 6x9cm negatives, which means you get eight images on a roll of 120, and the large size of the negatives gave period photographers a decent level of detail that could hold up when contact printing. These cameras were also used with Kodak’s special autographic film, which allowed photographers to pull a slot down at the back of the camera for writing either a date or a settings on the space between frames.

After working out the stiff release mechanism, Mr Barnes opened it up to find film inside.

"I was in complete shock, I was so worried I had exposed the film because they are very, very light sensitive," he said. "It's, like, 100 years old so I wasn't expecting the film to come out of it."

He took the film up the street to the Fujifilm Salisbury Photocenter into the hands of Ian Scott, who identified that this particular type of film did not go into production until the 1950s.

"It's nice to see the enthusiasm of a youngster buying this camera and getting it developed," said Mr Scott, “nobody had opened the camera and ruined the film in 70 years, which is incredible."

One image showed a crowd around the Portcullis Hotel in Chipping Sodbury, taken from an upper floor building overlooking a war memorial, with classic cars parked outside and what appears to be a camera crew in the shot.

"They're really good quality for how old they are, I wasn't really expecting anything," said Mr Barnes. "An event's definitely happening in the photos."

The photographs caused a stir in Chipping Sodbury, according to local photographer Richard McDonough, "We've had all sorts of people coming up with speculation and different ideas of what it might be."

Theories included an event linked the American army, who were posted nearby during the war, and a royal visit, however, the search continues for the origins of the event.

"It's exhilarating. I'll always get a different kind of thrill from film photos than I do from digital photos, it's a chemical experience I can't really explain," said Mr Barnes.

Take a look at our guides to the best Kodak camera, the best vintage camera, and the best film cameras.