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I have a leica iiic with lenses owned originally by a US Army colonel stationed in D.C. He was very meticulous and kept a notebook diary of what lens he used when with which film. With no internet these guys had plenty of time for note taking.

 

A chrome leica ii with summar owned and beautifully engraved with "John S. Thompson Columbus Ohio". So many others.

 

The remarkable thing about Leicas is that they outlive their owners. Like houses.

 

No worries about the digitals of any brand.

Edited by mickjazz
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No Leica actually knows who owned it. No Leica works more willingly or efficiently for having had a famous owner. Nevertheless, I am pleased that my III was first owned by the last man to privately finance the creation of a regiment in the British army. His batman, who saved his life on a couple of occasions, was his peacetime butler. Nothing to do with Leicas, of course.

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One item in my collection is a 90mm Elmar LTM lens which once belonged to Dr. Paul Wolff. My father was stationed in Germany after the war as a US Army Ordnance Photographer. He met Dr. Wolff in Frankfurt in 1946, and obtained the lens from Dr. Wolff at that time. In those times, one would never ask for a receipt for a private party purchase. At that point, my dad described Dr. Wolff as being in poor health and couldn't have been in the best of spirits as his photographic archive had been lost in the bombing of Frankfurt. My dad also travelled to Wetzlar during this time to try and acquire a Leica camera and lens, although none were to be had at that point. Officially, all Leica production went into a PX lottery for GI purchase. His chances were not good in the PX lottery and my dad felt that a lot of the Leicas actually went to officers before going to lower grade GI's like himself. He still had family in Germany, and worked those connections in his pursuit of Leica gear. Eventually, he did acquire a Leica with normal lens from another private party. This was a different world than what we know of now. Germany was in ruins, and there were no normal shops open for even the most basic needs of life, let alone luxury items like cameras. The paper money at the time was worthless, everything was based on barter. A good part of the country was starving or getting by on very little. I travelled with my dad many times to Germany in the 1970's to 90's, to many of the places he had been in Germany after the war and have no reason to doubt his story about Dr. Wolff. My father passed away several years ago, and I regret that I never had him put this down in writing for me to establish provenance, although I would never sell this lens.

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My father served in the Army Air Corps, 1943-45 Pacific theater, in air reconnaissance. With stories of mounting large format military cameras in stripped down P-38 planes to fly at the highest possible propeller altitudes. He owned a Leica IIIa, 308598 and I will always keep it, with its Summar lens.  He sent many photos home, but sadly our house burned to the ground in 1946 and all the photos, but not the camera were destroyed.

I purchased a Leica model II on ebay a few years ago, serial 352014. It came with many  accessories and some paper correspondence with Leitz New York from a Henry D. Barrow.  A Google search found that he had written a book titled " Paradise North", a story of his, along with his wife, living alone in a remote location of Alaska for one year. Late 1952 to late 1953.  Thy studied and documented local sea life. Interesting to see how average leica owners used their leicas just as the well-known greats.

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See previous post.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

No Leica actually knows who owned it. No Leica works more willingly or efficiently for having had a famous owner. Nevertheless, I am pleased that my III was first owned by the last man to privately finance the creation of a regiment in the British army. His batman, who saved his life on a couple of occasions, was his peacetime butler. Nothing to do with Leicas, of course.

Nothing other than fitting in with the "rich man's camera" narrative.

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