This lens is a mystery. It is clearly old; probably from the 1940s. I have never found a mention of a series VI Wollensak lens in any published source. In any case, the lens has a strange and lovely bokeh, with sharply etched out-of-focus circles, which get even more pronounced if the lens is reversed (as in some of the pictures in the gallery). Also, the lens is quite rare–I have only run across four examples. It has quite a bit of haloing of highlights and edges at full aperture (as do a number of other Wollensak lenses, both the Oscillo lenses and the 50mm f1.5 anastigmat in my experience), but stopping them down just a bit eliminates most of that and also makes the bokeh a bit finer and more pleasing to my eye.
Added note: The mystery has been at least partly solved. This is a lens with five elements in two groups. It has been found in the Mutoscope Photomatic, the first unattended automatic photo booth, introduced in the 1930’s and manufactured at least until the end of WWII. These lenses were thought to have been made between 1938 and 1946, but there is no mention of them in the Wollensak literature.
