I've had a little Waterbury Meniscus lens from the 1880's laying in a drawer for a few years.  Waterbury was a cheap camera for the masses made by Scovill.  They're usually 5X8 inch.  The lens is a single achromatic doublet at the end of a brass tube.  It is about 10" focus which is what you'd expect with a cheap 5X8 camera.  The one I have had a disc that throttled it back to about f12, the place where the mfr felt it was sharp enough to be respectable.  I used it several years ago for this page.  This weekend I got tired of trying to figure out how to use it unstopped where it would be soft.  So I did the bad bad thing and put a 1 1/4 inch socket down the throat and smacked it with a hammer.  No more disc.  Now it's an f6 Waterbury and ready for action.  As usual I was pleasantly surprised.  It is far sharper even wide open than I would have expected.  Here are 3 shots on 5X7.  I think it has a fine look to it!

The Edsel had shown up in a friends driveway and proved to be a fine test.  Can't afford a Pinkham, the little Waterbury's go cheap.  No Pinkham but still a nice old lens with some hoootzpah.