Gold Leica -- real or fake?

[richam]

I have a friend who asked me about a gold Leica for sale in a Sunday flea market shop. I haven't seen it, but he invited me to visit with him next Sunday to check it out. He said it resembles my iiif, so I assume it's a screw mount type. I'd like to get forearmed with a little knowledge, so my question is: How can I tell if this is a real Leica model or an after market plating job, or fake? What do I look for?

[stunsworth]

It's 99.99999% certain to be a fake. They usually originate in Eastern Europe and are usually based on Russian copies of the early Leicas.

Things to look out for are the shutter release - if it has a threaded centre to take a standard cable release it's a fake

Take of the lens, if the rangefinder cam isn't circular it's a fake.

[luigi bertolotti]

Just to give a different opinion... ... 99,9% is Eastern Europe fake, 0,1% is an original Leica gold plated by some lab (no more value than a standard Leica of the same type, possibly less). Definitely not a factory originated model.

[richam]

Steve, Luigi,
Thanks very much for the information. I'll let you know what I find out, although our trip to the flea market has now been postponed to the Sunday after next.

[stunsworth]

Michael, if you find that it's been sold but still want one - albeit a copy - there are always some available on eBay.

They seem to sell for around 80 GBP, which is probably more that the one in the flea market, and to be honest more than I'd want to pay.