The cabinet card on the right pictures an extraordinary camera obscura We are aware that many of the international exposition and world fairs of the late 19th and early 20th century included a camera obscura although with this exception we have had no luck finding them pictured. This bizarre little, Eastern influence building Is clearly labeled at least three times as a camera obscura. The text on the side announces in German, "CAMERA OBSCURA Most beautiful panorama of the exhibition"

The card is marked with the publishing company and Berlin 1896. The internet has confirmed a 1896 trade fair in Berlin but no mention of a camera obscura.

The wonderful little building above seems is a bit of a puzzle. Were was the lens located? If the turret was above the center dome wouldn't the two taller towers block the view? Perhaps it did not rotate 360° but in a smaller arc as does the Greenwich camera obscura.

The stereo card below which shows a bridge over a river and a multi-story building would not have been of much interest to us if it were not for the sign on the side of the building reading "..... Restaurant (?) and Camera obscura." and the label on the back which is shown below. The card appears to date from the 1870s or 80s and is not identified by maker. The best we can do with internet translation services is "No. 220_Falls on the Rhine from the Hotel with Camera Obscura, Lauffen, Switzerland".

In the close up on the right the sign can be read and the roof shows a metal object that might be a turret.