Need help Identifying the year of my Camera

[Fotofun1982]

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Hello there. I recently found my grandfathers Leica camera he bought when he was a child. He passed away and left me the camera. Just want to know any information i can find out about it would be greatly appreciated. The number on top of the camera is 68254 with a leitz Elmar f=5cm 1:35 Thank you so Much:D

[echorec]

1931, plese post a picture if you like, these are beautiful early Leicas.

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[Fotofun1982]

I am looking to sell it. DO you know of where I maybe able to sell this and for how much? Ill attach pictures tomorrow!

[Steve Ash]

Just think about using it with some b&w film for a while. It will not loose any value.

regards Steve

[luigi bertolotti]

It's a Leica I ... ought to be like this :

 

[ATTACH]174347[/ATTACH]

 

a not rare item but of great historical value; if you want to sell, evaluation is strongly tied to cosmetic conditions: such cameras can be very worn, normally "used", "very good", "restored" etc... and price depends also an "collaterals" like case, box etc...

Very large field of evaluations... it could bring from, say 150 to 750 US$ just to give an idea...

There is a buy & sell section in this forum: you can try to put it there and see if some offer arrives...

[lars_bergquist]

If it is indeed a Leica I, AND the lens is marked '35mm', THEN you may have on your hands a Leica I Interchangeable. Such a camera lacks the 'hockey stick' leaf spring on the front. Unscrew the lens from the camera and look at the camera lens flange at 12 o'clock. Is there a '0' engraved there? A Leica I Interchangeable is an interesting and potentially valuable camera.

 

The same goes for the lens. If the last three digits of the camera's number are engraved on the lens barrel, then you DO have something interesting.

 

The old man from the Age of the Leica III

Edited November 20, 2009 by lars_bergquist

[luigi bertolotti]

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If it is indeed a Leica I, AND the lens is marked '35mm', THEN you may have on your hands a Leica I Interchangeable. Such a camera lacks the 'hockey stick' leaf spring on the front. Unscrew the lens from the camera and look at the camera lens flange at 12 o'clock. Is there a '0' engraved there? A Leica I Interchangeable is an interesting and potentially valuable camera.

 

The same goes for the lens. If the last three digits of the camera's number are engraved on the lens barrel, then you DO have something interesting.

 

The old man from the Age of the Leica III

 

Indeed - a non standard sould be a fine finding !!! But the poster wrote "f=5 cm"...

[Fotofun1982]

If it is indeed a Leica I, AND the lens is marked '35mm', THEN you may have on your hands a Leica I Interchangeable. Such a camera lacks the 'hockey stick' leaf spring on the front. Unscrew the lens from the camera and look at the camera lens flange at 12 o'clock. Is there a '0' engraved there? A Leica I Interchangeable is an interesting and potentially valuable camera.

 

The same goes for the lens. If the last three digits of the camera's number are engraved on the lens barrel, then you DO have something interesting.

 

The old man from the Age of the Leica III

 

I took your advice and i noticed that the is no "hockey stick" leaf on the front. I unscrewed the lens and there is a "0" engraved on the body. there is no engraving on the lens barrel which probably means he had other lenses.

 

Thanks I will post some pics when I get a chance..

[luigi bertolotti]

The "0" on the body means it's a so called "standard" model, in the sense that the flange-to-film distance was standardized in all cameras, so making the lenses completely interchangeable; before, and this is the version quoted by Lars, the manufacturing process was such that a certain body had to be "tuned" to its lenses, so Leitz used the method quoted by Lars... the lens(es) had engraved the last 3 digits of the body' s/n; they are the so-called "non standard" Leica I... rare and much valued (it has been reported that the very first "non standard" had the full 5-digits s/n engraved on lens' barrel... I've never seen one like this).

 

Fotofun... I made this long explanation just to introduce you to the fascinating field of old Leicas... wait a little to sell it...

Edited November 21, 2009 by luigi bertolotti

[lars_bergquist]

Some history. The I standardized was manufactured in 1931--33, total 7231 cameras, and is known in the U.S. as the Leica C standardized (the designation of Leitz New York). So while the camera is not exactly rare, it is not common either.

 

The successor was the Leica Standard, which was identical, except for an extendable rewinding knob. The American designation was Leica E. It was made in quantity from 1932 to 1940, though a few were put together during and immediately after the war, probably from remaining parts. A last batch of 461 was made in 1947.

 

It is difficult to say what the camera may be worth, especially without knowing its condition.

 

The old man again