How many Leica I ?

[Pecole]

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I must confess that I was surprised, after consulting the files of my Fontenelle collection, to realize that I had a total 45 Leica I. Of different types, of course, and not all at the same time since I often changed when discovering a better item. But finally, I always had about 25 in the show-cases of what my wife called the "cavern".

I just finished reviewing these files and captioning some photos, and I'll start with figures. I only had Ur- and Nullserie as copies, of course - I will come back on same - and never succeeded in acquiring a Leica I Anastigmat. But I was very happy to own quite an early Leica I Elmax nº 499. That is the one I will detail today.

Next to this beloved one, I had four other "Elmax" : nº 663, 786, 1088 and 1116, all produced in 1925. Following Jim Lager, 26 were produced as from nº 250, and another 300 as from serial 1250. I suspect these figures are approximate, since I cannot imagine all my five coming from the very first set. But who knows? with Leica, everything is to be faced!

Then comes the "normal" Leica I with non removable Elmar. Here, I had twenty from serial 6912 to 56153. They include three Luxus replicas and two "close focus". They are followed by two Leica I with Hektor lens out of the 1300 prduced in 1930-31, nº 52855 and 59013; two "Dial Compur" (nº 6110 and 6130) and three "Rim Compur" (nº 21617, 34676 and 60572). I have a problem with the last serial : both Lager and Laney - even if they do not agree exactly on the serials limits - say the last Leica I with Rim Compur was produced at serial 51715 or 50711. Then, what?

We come now to The Leica I with interchangeable lens mount. I had nine non normalized between serials 37380 and 53043, the majority with one only same-number lens, but at least one complete set with its three "3 last digits" engraved lenses. I also had a nº 19655, Leica I normal modified to accept both the Elmar 5 cm and the Teleros 4 inches tele-lens. And finally, my four Leica I "normalized" were nº 60685 and 64523 for the "true", and nº 10546 and 24744 for the "upgraded".

And now, the photos of The Leica I Elmak nº 499, with necessary comments.

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The "mushroom" release, all-black return lever and the "flat" eyepiece of the viewer :

    

The frame counter of nº 499 compared to a normal one :

  

The "low" winding knob of the nº 499 compared to a normal one :

The speed dial of the nº 499 compared to a later one, and its old style locking device :

              

And to finish, two image of a "dimple" release on the Leica I Elmar serial 8419, and of a "threaded" one on this Leica I in early ESNEL ERC, with black cap on its lens.

 

 

 

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[willeica]

Thanks Pecole. I have 8 I Model As, all with Elmars, starting with No 1661 from 1926. Two of the I As are close focus models with feet markings on the lens. I had been intending to post a photo of my I Model As with an attempt to match them with the 10 variants identified by von Einem. Perhaps I will get around to doing this someday soon. In addition, I also have a I Model A that has been converted to a Standard. I have two standardised I Model Cs, both with Elmars, which came with rare cases, an ESMIT and an ETGAM.

William

[Ambro51]

Interesting to see the rarity of the close focus, I have only one A, a close focus.

[Marek]

Beautiful description Pecole !!! Thank you for sharing with us 🙂 I also have a few 1a, but my story is similar to yours ... never missed the opportunity to get Leica 1a Anastigmat 😉

Marek

[ironringer]

Lovely collectibles and excellent pictures of them; thank you Pecole for sharing these and your knowledge. They inspire us to keep searching for hidden treasures, such as these very early Leicas.

I have (and need ... not quite the same as "want" ...) only one Leica 1A, an original, unmodified example from 1929 found in Latvia (ignore the modern lens cap). See the pictures attached. After inspection and careful servicing by one of our Forum historians, it takes good pictures with its clean Elmar, and makes a healthy "thwack" when the shutter fires. This old survivor certainly attracts attention in the street 😉.

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Edited February 6, 2019 by ironringer
added the date of camera