Mystery LTM on eBay???

[craigr]

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An eBay seller from Germany has listed a nice looking Leica Ic - the identity confirmed by its serial number as pictured. Thing is, the Ic is described elsewhere as a IIIc without a rangefinder and viewfinder. But THIS camera body clearly bears the optical components. So, what’s up?

[TomB_tx]

Leitz would do factory upgrades to "higher" models while keeping the old serial number, so this could well be a Ic that was factory upgraded.

I have a 1929 Model 1a (by serial) that is now a 1932 model II, and a plain model III (by serial 1935) that is now a IIIf. This last even required a new body as the IIIf is 1/8" longer, but the model III serial was retained. Some of this may have been to get repairs through import/export customs as a repaired item.

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[willeica]

Can you provide a link to the camera listing on eBay? As Tom says, conversions for LTM models were common for many years. Here is an example from my collection which I mentioned in a recent thread (now moved to the German forum) about sharkskin c model cameras from 1949.

'SN 455660 IIf Black Dial - Was originally a Ic delivered in October 1949, and seems to have been converted to a IIf BD in January 1954' .

If you can provide more details, we may be able to help.

William

[craigr]

Hello Tom and William,

Here is the eBay link to the mystery Ic.  I recently sold my IIIf and miss it, so this tempts me a bit:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leica-Ic-with-Leitz-Elmar-5cm-3-5-chrome-SHP-59461/233381634589?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225085%26meid%3Dfdde486aac6f47e093ed0c5b7b703264%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D233381634589%26itm%3D233381634589%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DLeica&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A6fa36c3a-98a8-11ea-ae26-74dbd180eb78|parentrq%3A256fb8921720ad4cf47b88a9ffa17b16|iid%3A1

Craig

[willeica]

The camera, which is from the same group as my one mentioned above, started out as a I c and was subsequently converted to a IIIf Black Dial (BD). It seems to have sharkskin. It would have received a full new top plate with the original serial number engraved on it. In the case of IIIcs that were converted to IIIf they just received a screw on plate for the sync numbers below the speed dial, whereas Ics would have received a full new top plate with a rangefinder etc. I have written about these models on this forum before. There is nothing unusual here, but the seller should learn how to describe such models properly.

William