willeica Posted February 21, 2020 Share #101 Posted February 21, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) 3 hours ago, Tony A. said: The camera is now safely in the hands of Lars Netopil. Here is a snippet from an email I just received from him"Hello Tony, the shipment was released by german customs and I have picked it up personally this morning. After a very careful examination I can give you a confirmation of what I already thought from your pictures: This is a bonafide Leica IIId with all proper features in all original condition. The delayed action mechanism on the IIId Leica was technically different from that of the later IIIf models. In some cases it happened, that a IIId selftimer went broken and as there were no spareparts of this available after, a IIIf-type selftimer was set into a IIId. I can already see in the non-dismantled status, that here we still have the original IIId selftimer. There is also no reason to doubt, that this is camera number 360.001. The chrome plating of the topplate looks absolutely vintage, as well as the engravings." Good news Tony. I discussed this online with both Lars and Jim Lager and they were convinced at a distance that this was a genuine IIId, possibly the very first one. It is good to hear that Lars has now got his hands on the item and can confirm what we thought here. We shall follow the future progress of the camera with great interest. William 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 21, 2020 Posted February 21, 2020 Hi willeica, Take a look here Auction Find . I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
M9reno Posted February 25, 2020 Share #102 Posted February 25, 2020 AMAZING! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted February 25, 2020 Share #103 Posted February 25, 2020 Echoing "pegelli" earlier - I have little personal interest in owning early film Leicas but it is fascinating to follow the discussions surrounding them, their details, their heritage and their "stories" and to appreciate the depth of knowledge regularly shown on this forum by contributors. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_schertel Posted February 25, 2020 Share #104 Posted February 25, 2020 Am 13.2.2020 um 20:09 schrieb wizard: Indeed, any allegation that the camera was stolen seems completely unfounded at this point (unless Tony has information pointing in that direction). Right after the war, many people in Germany were in desparate need of funds to survive, so if they still owned items of value that were of not so much value to them in that particular situation (you can't eat a Leica), they tried to sell those items to whoever would buy them. That is one possible scenario of how ownership may have changed. I am not even ruling out the possibility that some Leitz employee who had access to those cameras may have "sold" them . But it is all speculation, really, and Germany was in turmoil then, so everything is possible. yes, after the war german People sold silver cutlery, Meißen China, persian carpets for some potatoes or two pounds of butter, or even their Leica for something eatable or wood for the stove. They went out iof the bombed cities into the countryside to do so. It was great distress in those days. The winters in the fourties had been the coldest since decades. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_schertel Posted February 25, 2020 Share #105 Posted February 25, 2020 But this camera is a very lucky find. yours sincerely Thomas 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted February 28, 2020 Share #106 Posted February 28, 2020 Great respect for the "inventor" of the missing link. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted February 28, 2020 Share #107 Posted February 28, 2020 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) On 2/10/2020 at 3:29 PM, Tony A. said: I was at an estate auction of sorts this past weekend and before the auction started I was walking around looking at the items. I came across this and thought to myself "Wow, that's a really nice old camera." I was only vaguely familiar with Leica but knew they were/are "higher end" cameras. I was really surprised when it came up on the block and no one was bidding on it, so I did. Congrats to this obviously unique and very valuable find! This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime find. By far not as fortunate as you, but I also won my Leica IIIc - a regular "standard" model - together with nearly mint and unscratched Leica 50/2 Summitar lens and two additional nearly mint looking expandable 90/4 and 135/4.5 Hektor M-mount lenses at a local auction all-together for $250. I had one online and one direct bidder trying also to get it, but both bailed out before me. I had the IIIc and the Summitar lens CLA'ed, and both are working nicely now. These days where most auctions are connected to online bidding, it is very hard to get Leica gear for an underpriced value. I was just lucky that the camera and the lenses came up as bundle at an auction focused predominantly on ceramics and dolls, therefore photography enthusiasts didn't see it. Edited February 28, 2020 by Martin B 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted April 24, 2020 Share #108 Posted April 24, 2020 Any update on this story? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted April 24, 2020 Share #109 Posted April 24, 2020 1 hour ago, earleygallery said: Any update on this story? You may see it up for auction in the second half of the year. That is all I should say for now. I gave advice to the purchaser and he seems to have followed it, but the final decision is his. William 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PG Black nickel Posted July 29, 2020 Share #110 Posted July 29, 2020 Good morning, everyone, Finally I did not see this marvel in recent sales? For me who follows collector I must confess that it would be very difficult for me to part with such a rare camera. But I put myself in the place of the lucky one who found this Leica and who is not a collector, he can at lests change cars and maybe a house by selling it...you don't have to think about it for a long time ! Bravo pour cette découverte !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted July 29, 2020 Share #111 Posted July 29, 2020 1 hour ago, PG Black nickel said: Good morning, everyone, Finally I did not see this marvel in recent sales? For me who follows collector I must confess that it would be very difficult for me to part with such a rare camera. But I put myself in the place of the lucky one who found this Leica and who is not a collector, he can at lests change cars and maybe a house by selling it...you don't have to think about it for a long time ! Bravo pour cette découverte !!! You may see it in October. I will post here when the catalogue comes out. Leaving aside the value, the camera was an important discovery in itself. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PG Black nickel Posted July 29, 2020 Share #112 Posted July 29, 2020 That's what our passion is also... maybe one day find the holy grail. Tony has found one, maybe the next one will be a III B black paint, the Leica 1A number 001...sleeping in an attic...keep looking! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted August 22, 2020 Share #113 Posted August 22, 2020 This IIId is shown as being part of Wetzlar Auction #2 coming up in October. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted August 22, 2020 Share #114 Posted August 22, 2020 1 hour ago, zeitz said: This IIId is shown as being part of Wetzlar Auction #2 coming up in October. The auction catalogue should be out in about a week from now. Details will be there. William Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reini Posted August 22, 2020 Share #115 Posted August 22, 2020 Nice restoration. Unrecognizable ... https://leicarumors.com/2020/08/22/wetzlar-camera-auctions-2-coming-on-october-10-2020-in-wetzlar-germany.aspx/#more-67459 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PG Black nickel Posted August 22, 2020 Share #116 Posted August 22, 2020 I hope the III D number 360001 will pull the bids up for the other lots, I put an Angénieux 35 mm lens for sale at the same sale at Jo geier ! I think that the III D will go up very high...We open the bets I say between 50.000 and 75.000 euros ! Philippe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted August 25, 2020 Share #117 Posted August 25, 2020 Opening price for the IIId is 8,000 euro; estimated sale price range is 15,000 to 20,000 euro. The auction is active at the Live Auctioneers site. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpattison Posted August 26, 2020 Share #118 Posted August 26, 2020 Going back to its provenance, could it have arrived in the US with one of the last employees sent abroad by Ernst Leitz II (in what became known as the Leica Freedom Train) ? https://fstoppers.com/historical/how-leica-freedom-train-saved-hundreds-jews-holocaust-50656 Would this camera be available before the time the borders were closed ? It may also have been sent this way to get the "new model" over to Leitz New York before the border closure. Tony, did you manage to contact the seller ? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted August 26, 2020 Share #119 Posted August 26, 2020 From the auction catalogue "This camera is not only the first Leica IIId, but also represents the first (serial production) Leica camera with a die-cast shutter crate. The line with this serial number is blank in the shipping records, the entries there start with number 360002 - accordingly the information given in the secondary literature, including the "Hahne" list. Only in the "Tagebuch der Leica Montage" ("Diary of Leica assembly") the note "The following No. have already been delivered in advance: 360001-020 ...." is to be found in the entries for model IIId. The camera was most likely kept in the factory and probably got into other hands in the wake of the war or post-war turmoil. There are still a number of small technical deviations, even from the known camera No. 360002. For example, the cover plate to the bottomside of the shutter crate is designed differently and the diagram for film loading is still attached to the bottomplate. The recent discovery of this camera in a U.S. garage sale can, without exaggeration, be described as a sensation. The camera is in untouched original condition and even quite nicely preserved. With early Summitar 5 cm f/2 without serial number, which also suggests a factory internal use. Historically significant! Literatur: James L. Lager, „Leica, an illustrated History“, Vol. I (cameras), p. 62ff.; "Tagebuch der Leica-Montage" (facsimile), Leica Historica e.V., 2010. Serial Number: 360001 Production Year: 1939" I was in touch with the owner and I suggested that he should get in touch with Lars. He decided to put it up for auction after discussing the matter with Lars. I suspect the camera made its way to the US after the end of the war. That is all we can say for now. The camera is described for auction as above. William 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryzet Posted August 28, 2020 Share #120 Posted August 28, 2020 so an american gi stole it? or traded it in for 50 lucky strikes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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