The only known previous example of the Lancaster Ladies patent camera to be offered at auction was sold at Christie's South Kensington in Cameras and Optical Toys (12 March 1992), lot 218.

Lancaster's patent watch camera was the subject of British patent 12,571 of 4 October 1886. The camera first appeared in a commercial form in 1886 and from 1887 two sized were being sold giving negatives of 2 x 1½ inch and 1½ x 1 inch. The early models had simple rotary shutters turned by hand (as in this example) which were replaced in 1890 by an Improved-pattern with a simple drop shutter. An example of this latter style was sold in 'Spy, Subminiature and Detective Cameras, 9 December 1991, lot 219.

The Ladies-pattern camera was the original style of the camera and is that illustrated in the patent specification. The Ladies-pattern watch camera is considerably rarer than the larger-sized Improved model. Auer (1989) states that 'Only two known examples exist', however since then an example was sold in these rooms in 1992 and this is a fourth example. The other known examples are held at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; the J.C.I.I. Museum, Tokyo, and in a private collection.