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Leica Collectors - What have I stumbled upon?


ryan1938

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Yes, you spoke with the man himself and he is a good guy. Trustworthy.

 

Where did the lenses (locale) come from? Many years ago, there was a large camera dealer here in Chicago, Altmans. It was the place to go for anything your heart desired camera wise. It covered multiple floors in the Loop, several serviced by escalator. I used to go downtown on my days off from a suburban camera shop where I sold Leicas just to go look and drool!

 

Anyway, when the owner Ralph closed his store, he put his Leica collection up for sale. I obtained a mimeographed copy (before photocopies were common!). He had an unbelievable number of Leica things, many with sequential serial numbers.

 

I would think to many serious collectors, there would be some interest in these lenses.

 

Good luck!

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I agree that the smart thing is to use one and sell the other. However, check out each one using a flashlight to find out which has the least hairs, mold, scratches, etc. There are always differences between ANY 2 lenses, including these. Also check for focus shift and smoothness of rotation. Keep the better one.

 

If you are primarily interested in quality, then you can sell both together as a pair, and use the money to buy a mint Version 1 or the latest Aspherical model. The only edge that the ASPH has over the Version 1 is at f:2 aperture, in my opinion. Even then, it's very hard to actually see the difference between those two.

 

Remember, those 2 lenses that you bought are not only consecutive with each other, but also in a consecutive chain of possibly hundreds of lenses, so that is not really a rare thing. Gun collectors often go ape over consecutive numbering as well, which I think is silly. Consecutive purchasing is for deep-pocket people who keep their stuff in safes, rather than take their stuff out to shoot and have fun.

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Follow up. As it turned out, the lenses were worth quite a bit more than they would be separately... which was helped by the fact that both of these lenses were in absolutely mint (never used) condition. After a lot of research, I ended up talking with Sam at Classic Connection. He lined up a buyer for the twins and I ended up with a new 35mm Summilux FLE.

 

I couldn't be happier. Sam at CC was honest, straight forward, and really patient with me. Great guy.

 

Thanks for your help guys.

 

Ryan

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Follow up. As it turned out, the lenses were worth quite a bit more than they would be separately... which was helped by the fact that both of these lenses were in absolutely mint (never used) condition. After a lot of research, I ended up talking with Sam at Classic Connection. He lined up a buyer for the twins and I ended up with a new 35mm Summilux FLE.

 

I couldn't be happier. Sam at CC was honest, straight forward, and really patient with me. Great guy.

 

Thanks for your help guys.

 

Ryan

Cool story

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Guest Ansel_Adams
Follow up. As it turned out, the lenses were worth quite a bit more than they would be separately... which was helped by the fact that both of these lenses were in absolutely mint (never used) condition. After a lot of research, I ended up talking with Sam at Classic Connection. He lined up a buyer for the twins and I ended up with a new 35mm Summilux FLE.

 

I couldn't be happier. Sam at CC was honest, straight forward, and really patient with me. Great guy.

 

Thanks for your help guys.

 

Ryan

 

Crazy money if that is what you got! Your next move would be to sell the Lux and by a Cron and pocket the change.... <only joking>

Edited by Ansel_Adams
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The lux is really my dream lens... Something I can use the rest of my life and never have to worry about buying a 35mm again. I'm a two lense guy. With this lux and my 90mm cron, I kind of feel like I'm set for anything.

 

I'm shooting on a sony a7 as I prefer to spend money on lenses rather than camera bodies, but hope to step up to a digital M to match my M6 at some point.

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If I'm not mistaken, pico mentioned consecutive body numbers in his possession. Imagine all four from the same year...

 

Yes, consecutive body numbers. They were professionally abused. Ugly condition, but sold to an Asian buyer for about four times what I thought they were worth.

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  • 5 months later...
Isn't the "plastic" variant a V4? The "twins" above look V3.

 

You are right Luigi. The fourth version 35 summicron was the one with a plastic interior. The tiger paw focusing is the give away for this lens. I know as I had one and the head loosened up and I was told that if it loosened up again it was a goner. At the time I did not know what she meant but now I know. It is difficult to lock the lens together when you are screwing into plastic.:D

Edited by George Furst
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