I have an Anniversary 4x5 that is missing the bottom tripod socket. Any ideas on how to replace the socket or rig up some sort of replacement? I want to use the ground glass for focussing and therefore need to use a tripod. Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

Fred Lustig may have the replacement part, his number is elsewhere on this board (try doing a search for "Lustig")

If that fails, I'd find a Tee Nut that instead of barbs, has holes. then you can drill small holes and mount the Tee nut with small flat head machine screws. this will hold up better than the barbed variety.

If you can't locate them (my Home Despot has them, as do most of the better hardware stores with the aisle of little drawers of neat stuff.) you could trim the barbs down off the barbed kind and use epoxy.

Elsewhere on this board is a PDF manual for this beast. It shows a standard 1/4-20 TEE Nut with three mount holes. If a hardware store on the corner doesn't have it then dodge the forklifts at that orange HOME dump.

Thanks for the advice, guys. BTW, my camera’s serial # is 348554. This would place its year of manufacture about 1945, right?

Yep.

Do you know when it was purchased?

Don't know much of its history. I bought it off eBay last Christmas for about 55 bucks. (No reserve, and I guess most people thought it looked pretty hopeless.) But to my surprise, everything works well, bellows are light tight, and it cleaned up nicely. Just some bad leather on the front. Not cosmetically perfect by any means, but, hey...I'm happy as the proverbial clam with me little orphan Anni.

I use brass wood inserts available in those little drawers. You drill 5/16 hole and thread them in with a screwdriver. Put a little epoxy on the threads for good measure and you end up with a standard 1/4-20 tripod socket. Cost 69 cents. Russ If you cannot find one I will send you one free, I have plenty.