Lens element flipped

[rjs003]

Short story long, I bought a Crown Graflex with a 163mm Paragon lens mounted in an Ilex shutter. Wanted the lens more then the camera. When the camera arrived I ran a few sheets of film through the camera to find that I couldn't focus the ^*%$# thing and the shutter was bound up. So I sent the shutter off to Flutot's for a CLA.
Once the shutter was finished I remounted the lens element that had been remove and cleaned, and you guessed it I still couldn't focus the lens.
I was ready to write the whole thing off to just another bad ebay experience.

But after doing some research on line I learned that the Paragon lens wasn't just a piece of junk so I took the thing apart again an noticed that the lens consisted of three elements, one of which appears to have been installed back words. So I flipped it and reassembled the thing to find that yes you can focus the ^*^*& lens.
I wonder if the guy who sold the camera to me was aware of the real problem with the camera or just didn't know.

[jjstafford]

Maybe he considered it a Sally Mann kind of lens.

[JG Motamedi]

It has been my experience buying 19th century lenses that the vast majority have been assembled incorrectly. I suppose somebody took them apart for "cleaning" and then forgot how to reassemble.

[Donald Qualls]

But that's good news, providing the buyer is smarter than the seller -- right? You get a good lens for next to nothing because someone else can't make it work right...

[Gerald Koch]

Points out the fact that when you take something like a lens apart you need to take detailed notes so you know how put it together again. Don't trust that you will remember since you may have to put assembly aside for awhile.