richam Posted February 7, 2010 Share #1 Posted February 7, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) 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? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 Hi richam, Take a look here Gold Leica -- real or fake?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stunsworth Posted February 7, 2010 Share #2 Posted February 7, 2010 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 8, 2010 Share #3 Posted February 8, 2010 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richam Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share #4 Posted February 9, 2010 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted February 9, 2010 Share #5 Posted February 9, 2010 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richam Posted April 25, 2010 Author Share #6 Posted April 25, 2010 Again thanks to all for the inputs. I finally got to the flea market this morning; I'm sure you will understand if I avoided downtown Athens for a while due to the current lawlessness, strikes, and all. Anyway, you were right. Two shops had fake gold East European rip-offs, easily identifiable by the release button and focus roller. The first shop wanted € 250; the other € 200. The latter got sold while I was in the shop to someone for € 150. The workmanship was so sloppy and ugly that I was interested in neither as a collectible. Regarding Athens, I posted a security advisory here, if you're interested. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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