Fontenelle archives 9 : Russian fakes

[Pecole]

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There are two types of early "Russian fakes" : the "official" counterfeits have been produced by the State factories immediately before and during the war to harm the Reich's economy; and the "private" ones have been crafted after the war from current Russian equipment, mainly by German civilians, to make easy money with candid occupation forces' personnel.

The Summar in the Fontenelle Collection is from the first category, and displays quite good quality engravings, but cannot be confused with the genuine Leitz product.

A very good example of the second category is this FED partly defaced and re-engraved...with a spelling error : Wetzer in place of Wetzlar, not to speak of the serial number retained with the typical Russian style.

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[FiZZ]

There are two types of early "Russian fakes" : the "official" counterfeits have been produced by the State factories immediately before and during the war to harm the Reich's economy; and the "private" ones have been crafted after the war from current Russian equipment, mainly by German civilians, to make easy money with candid occupation forces' personnel.

The Summar in the Fontenelle Collection is from the first category, and displays quite good quality engravings, but cannot be confused with the genuine Leitz product.

A very good example of the second category is this FED partly defaced and re-engraved...with a spelling error : Wetzer in place of Wetzlar, not to speak of the serial number retained with the typical Russian style.

 

This is absolutely fantastic. Though the body looks fake because of the sub-quality finish, I would love to know if there is a way to tell from the lenses which is fake and which isn't. I'm no Leica expert, and those two lenses look pretty legit to me.

[luigi bertolotti]

This is absolutely fantastic. Though the body looks fake because of the sub-quality finish, I would love to know if there is a way to tell from the lenses which is fake and which isn't. I'm no Leica expert, and those two lenses look pretty legit to me.

 

The Summar at right is CLEARLY a fake from lot of details, with the front engraving that catches immediately the eye for its fonts are a very rough fake of Leitz' ones.

The Summar at left is indeed much better... but, from the side view, I suppose that having it in hands should immediately make some doubt to arise: this from the surface finishing, whilst engravings look rather good.

 

See hereunder a "true" Summar (courtesy of Summilux.net) :

 

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[aesop]

...I can see where FiZZ is coming from - to the "untrained" eye there is very little to go by. My knowledge of Leica screw mount equipment is close to zero, so unless I have a solid reference point, I would definitely hesitate to purchase any of these beauties.

[Pecole]

...I can see where FiZZ is coming from - to the "untrained" eye there is very little to go by. My knowledge of Leica screw mount equipment is close to zero, so unless I have a solid reference point, I would definitely hesitate to purchase any of these beauties.

 

For those interested, see also the 3 photos of a FED/fake Leica II published in my Thread "Soviet fake" on 05-08-2008.