Anyone in UK/London area had an R8 with 50mm and 80mm lenses stolen?

[geetee1972]

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I spotted this on eBay:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leica-R8-/282567188133?hash=item41ca511ea5:g:inYAAOSw~XpZT5RQ

 

As the seller had also listed the 50mm Summicron separately but not indicated it was an R mount lens, I got in touch. In the process of the exchange, I asked what had happened to the 80mm, which must have been a Summilux as I don't think they made a 'cron version.

 

She sold it overseas for £1170. When I gawped at that being a bargain, she said he didn't really care as he'd not paid anything for it to begin with (originally she said she was selling it for a mate).

 

So possibly it's knock off gear. Has anyone had something stolen recently?

[geetee1972]

I've had a detailed conversation with the seller and am confident that this is not stolen.

 

The story is that the sellers father in law was a black cab taxi driver. About 15 years ago someone left their camera bag in his taxi and he didn't notice it until he'd finished his shift, by which time it was too late to do anything about it. The camera and lenses have been in the family since then and have now been passed to the seller to see if she can make some money form them.

 

The camera still has film in it from 15 years ago. Would be very interesting to see what's on it!

[earleygallery]

Sounds dodgy. I'd have expected the cab driver to hand the lost property into a police station, I don't get the 'too late' comment.

 

If the gear has been reported as stolen to Leica they will confiscate it if it's ever returned for service!

[wattsy]

The story is that the sellers father in law was a black cab taxi driver. About 15 years ago someone left their camera bag in his taxi and he didn't notice it until he'd finished his shift, by which time it was too late to do anything about it. The camera and lenses have been in the family since then and have now been passed to the seller to see if she can make some money form them.

Sounds dodgy. I'd have expected the cab driver to hand the lost property into a police station, I don't get the 'too late' comment.

 

 

I don't get the "too late" part of the story either – people must leave stuff in black cabs all the time and there is presumably a standard mechanism for dealing with this lost property rather than the drivers just helping themselves to it as some kind of lucky booty. I thought black cab drivers were meant to be salt of the earth geezers?

[geetee1972]

I'm not saying I disagree with these comments, but what exactly would you do? London's a big place; where would you start with trying to return something like that? If it were you or I we would probably call Leica UK. Maybe you could still do that.

[almoore]

I'm not saying I disagree with these comments, but what exactly would you do? London's a big place; where would you start with trying to return something like that?...

Assuming no contact information, the standard course of action for London cabbies is to hand property over to the Baker Street lost property office:

 

http://london-taxi.co.uk/lost-property/

[earleygallery]

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I'm not saying I disagree with these comments, but what exactly would you do? London's a big place; where would you start with trying to return something like that? If it were you or I we would probably call Leica UK. Maybe you could still do that.

 

There are formal processes for handling lost property. Any black cab driver would be aware of these. Effectively these are stolen goods. 

[dkCambridgeshire]

Report it to Ebay with all the facts 

 

dunk