earliest M mount Summicron 5 cm?

[luigi bertolotti]

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WOW !!!  You beat all of us !!  Are you sure it's fully original ? Really a lucky find, if so  

[Pecole]

Since more than two months now, I am putting on computer all my written Fontenelle Collection archives, and hope to finish next month the detailed list of my former lenses, the last one. Needless to say that re-discovering this thread, I went to search for my first Summicron : nothing very special, unfortunately. The first screw collapsible one is serialled 993930, is marked "GmbH" and its description includes notes on a nº922072 illustrated in Lager II (an old reference indeed!) and a nº994554 offered at Westlicht auction. My first M-mount is serialled 1119860 and dated 1953.

Something I discovered when going through my archives is that - since I started collecting quite early - there was very scarce literature available (next to the first books of my friends Jim Lager and Paul-Henry Van Hasbroeck). I have now "discovered", thanks to available references, quite a few "firsts" or "very early" items I will certainly describe in this Forum in about two months.

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[UliWer]

The GmbH. (full stop after H) which you can see on fuchs' photo seems odd to me since in German you either write G.m.b.H. (dots behind all letters) or no dot at all (more common). Though having no chance to look at my own items at the moment I may be wrong and Leitz engravers made this fullstop on other occasions as well.

[fuchs]

1 hour ago, UliWer said:

The GmbH. (full stop after H) which you can see on fuchs' photo seems odd to me since in German you either write G.m.b.H. (dots behind all letters) or no dot at all (more common). Though having no chance to look at my own items at the moment I may be wrong and Leitz engravers made this fullstop on other occasions as well.

Hi UliWer. As far as I know, there are both samples of “GmbH” and “GmbH.” (with the dot) even in this same thread. Please review ironinger’s pictures in his post #11:

 

[fuchs]

5 hours ago, luigi bertolotti said:

WOW !!!  You beat all of us !!  Are you sure it's fully original ? Really a lucky find, if so  

Salve Luigi! I feel it is original, more due to the way that it came to me than other —also valid— clues. Why to fake a serial number and then sell it with a camera advertising it plainly as “Leica camera for sale” and for a more than fair regular price? The person who sold it to me had been given the camera by the original first owner.

[insomnigraphic]

On 6/3/2015 at 10:58 AM, ironringer said:

Excellent research, thank you Mr. Bertolotti.

Reviewing my "saved pictures" files, I came across an earlier collapsible M-mount Summicron 5 cm, s/n  993365 from 1952, pictures attached.

As a conservative "proceed slowly and carefully" company, Leitz was obviously researching/using the M-mount long (2+ years) before they introduced the M3 in 1954.

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Back on this thread after talking about my lens with another vintage nerd. Mine is #921672, a 1951 number, but native M mount (very much like the photos you posted here). Lovely lens, spends a lot of time on my M10. Also note mine is one with the single "hard stop" after the GmbH.

Edited August 17, 2020 by insomnigraphic
Added the GmbH