Museum Quality

And you thought the Nikon D3 was expensive? Oh no no no.

(And the sad thing? It never gets to take any pictures....)

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Mike  (Thanks to Micah Marty)

Comments

[erlik]

Photo Arsenal always has prices well pumped up. As far as I can conclude, for about a third.

So this Leica would really cost only $60K. ;-)

Eeeek!

[erlik]

PS.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-M5-automatic-prototype-with-compur-shutter_W0QQitemZ370009071916QQihZ024QQcategoryZ30030QQcmdZViewItem

Double eeek!

[Chuck Albertson]

So, how did it make its way out of the Leitz Museum?

[Claire Senft]

Maybe you should go to Hong Kong, Germany and personally inspect it.

[Awake]

They are selling their museum pieces to get some cash? Not a good sign....

[Nick]

I know the M3's a good camera, but surely this is a little over the top for only the millionth example! (And if it's not been used, I bet its shutter's seized up by now too; what a waste.)

[jg]

Who needs such a museum piece when you can do whith this for such a reasonable price?
http://cgi.ebay.com/EXCELLENT-COPY-OF-A-LEICA-RANGEFINDER-OF-THE-M-SERIES_W0QQitemZ180200162818QQihZ008QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[David]

What the heck, that's the cleanest pre-owned Leica I've ever seen. As soon as my Minolta SR-3 poops out I'm after that thing like 4 on 3. I hope nobody snaps it up before that happens.

And, may Kris Kringle bring everybody what they want for New Year's.

[Carl Leonardi]

Mike, Not sure this is real--Flash mount screws were put in by a amateur-- over turned. Plugs for flash holes are missing.
Round thing on left side of back plate is missing. Words and numbers almost line up but not quite and did the Film numbers start at 40--had one but can't remember.

[m3photo]

What an honest looking gentleman too! And how nice of him to "just open" a branch in HK! Such cheap postage, only $40 for trusting my well-spent 86+Thousand bucks half-way around the world! Amazing what you can find for a song on e-bay, and it's so trustworthy!

[John Igel]

I bet it's not even digital; you have to put that film stuff into it.

[Dave]

I liked this bit in the ad:
"... our competent manager Mr. Evan Wong is available for you in the showroom
from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM."
I wonder which manager you get to deal with other times??

[Ctein]

Dear folks,

Carl's concerns are precisely why provenance is important when you're paying real money for anything of historical import. The camera might very well prove legitimate but it cannot be simply as described in the very short description. The slightly mangled screw heads and the slight ding in the front of the top cover (opposite the second zero in the serial number) suggests that either this camera was used or else suffered damage at some point and was refurbished/repaired. Either of which is entirely possible. I can think of several common and innocent scenarios wherein this takes place. But one would want to find out these things !

If this camera is legitimate, then a verifiable paper trail exists that leads back to the museum. One would want to follow that trail back and inquire of the various parties involved if they can explain these points.

Only a fool would lay out $80,000 for any kind of antique without provenance.

pax / Ctein
[[ Please excuse any word-salad. ViaVoice in training! ]]
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-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://www.ctein.com
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com
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[Void]

You are right - a camera which never gets to take pictures is a sad thing. There should be a law allowing for a confiscation of unused cameras, so they could get into some actions. Closing them in cupboard should be forbidden - it just drives camera prices up.