modified Leica red box

[PG Black nickel]

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 * Another topic is about Leica M3 boxes, but I have a slightly different question about camera box modification. I have an old "Symar" box for a Leica III, obviously it has been transformed into a film stock. I've seen a number of them on the same model which proves the industrial manufacturing by the dealers, the factory in wetzlar? Does anyone have an answer?

Philippe

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[alan mcfall]

This is an early Leica camera shipping box. apparently for camera 124227 which would be a model III from 1933.  I believe Leitz in their wisdom shipped included, the film canister dividers/partations unassembeled and flat taking up very little room.  After the customer. removed the camera they could convert the shipping box for the camera into a film storage box. I haven't seen much to confirm this, but I have many of the 15 compartment film rolls boxes and they all were originally shipped with the camera in them.  Or, maybe as you say, the dealers had the dividers, and provided them to customers.  If so, I cannot say if the dealers got the dividers from Wetzlar or elsewhere.The perfect match of your red dividers to the box interior suggest Wetzlar was involved. The average customer probably discarded these along with the other now hard to find packing material from 77 years ago.

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[alan mcfall]

Here is a later red box for the IIIb with gold interior and matching gold dividers. The box exterior also has gold trim, an upgrade(?) from the years earlier all red boxes.It seems after the war the red boxes had all white interiors and the film canister divider system was gone. By 1952/3 all the boxes now had Gmbh in the exterior marking.

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Edited October 13, 2020 by alan mcfall

[willeica]

This box featured in my recent story about a 70 year old roll of film which I found in a FILCA and developed recently. I am still not certain whether the FILCA came in this box, which contained a lot of FILCAs when I got it, or in another camera. The camera and this box both came to me together from Sweden

 

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The IIIa camera here 157423 was sent to Berlin in April 1935. The box actually belongs to 157408 (according to the number on the base) which was sent to Berlin in March 1935. The writing on the inside of the lid is in Swedish which I have had translated. This indicates that the owner of the box first used the camera in Berlin and then went to Sweden. Then a trip to England took place in May 1935 and there are records of visits to various gardens that might indicate an interest in Botany on the part of the photography. This is reinforced in the final panel which indicates that the owner of the camera was at the 200th anniversary event for the publication of the System of Nature by Swedish Botanist Carl Linnaeus on 2nd June 1935 and might have been used to take this photo, taken at the event, which is attributed to a 20th Century Swedish botanist.

There are some issues here , particularly about the two serial numbers, but it seems to me that it was unlikely that both cameras that went to Berlin would have ended up in Sweden and that it is more likely that the Swedish photographer purchased the camera in Berlin and was issued with the 'wrong' box. It is the case that when I bought the camera from Sweden 80 years later that the box came with it.

The purpose behind the research was to resolve the mystery described here. 

I have now discovered that the other camera (a black III) described in the article was actually delivered to Switzerland in September 1935 and I am now pursuing details about that with a Swiss distributor and a dealership which had an outlet near where one of the photos was taken.

It is always interesting when Leica cameras and accessories come with stories attached to them. If only they could speak about what they have 'seen'.

William

 

 

[gyoung]

On 10/13/2020 at 10:12 PM, PG Black nickel said:

 * Another topic is about Leica M3 boxes, but I have a slightly different question about camera box modification. I have an old "Symar" box for a Leica III, obviously it has been transformed into a film stock. I've seen a number of them on the same model which proves the industrial manufacturing by the dealers, the factory in wetzlar? Does anyone have an answer?

Philippe

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The Leica III I inherited from my wife's 'uncle' (actually a close friend of her father) has been 'in the family' since bought new in 1938.  It came with just such a box, and it was full of film canisters which had the developed rolls rolled up inside them, as far as I know all that were taken with the camera pre WWII.  I did make contact sheets a long while ago, nothing spectacular, I must get round to scanning them sometime.

Gerry

[PG Black nickel]

Hello,
Thank you Alan, indeed Leitz had to deliver a kit transforming the camera box into a film box. The boxes are really well integrated and fit together very well.
William, I too had about ten developed films in this box.
From what I could see they would be pictures from the 1950's, we see a wedding, Venice...I will try to scan and develop them.
A free photoshop application exists to scan and transform old negatives, I put the link but in French.

Philippe

 

[willeica]

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Another Leica Red Box from about 65 years old and still pristine. Plastic this time and containing the Chico flash which folds (sans bulb ) into the little box. This flash should work (with the right attachments) on both LTM and M models.

 

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Leica boxes seem to come in an infinite variety, but folding items into them requires 'lessons'. And before anyone asks, no literature came in the box, but I have material in my collection and books about using this.

William

 

[Pecole]

I do not know if the box I had in my collection contained something else at the origin, but I got it for holding fifteen film cassettes in containers.

Further , I also had a Chico flash DEOOC in original plastic box DHMOO, including the DFOOB pivoting holder  and lamp (sorry, no color for this 1980 photo).

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Edited October 22, 2020 by Pecole