Strange Leica M2 wax seal

[rfaspen]

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Looked at my older Ms and most have the "L" seal, another has an "R".

Looked up R.......Bogota, Columbia!  I'm in NW USA and purchased the body here.  This M2 has a story.  Later Ms just don't have this flair....can't remember when they stopped using the seal.

[nitroplait]

52 minutes ago, rfaspen said:

Looked at my older Ms and most have the "L" seal, another has an "R".

Looked up R.......Bogota, Columbia!  I'm in NW USA and purchased the body here.  This M2 has a story.  Later Ms just don't have this flair....can't remember when they stopped using the seal.

Leica stopped long ago but repair techs like Sherry K, DAG and others still use their seals - to the best of my knowledge.

[jaques]

On 8/31/2021 at 6:15 PM, lefse said:

Oddly, it's super smooth. And the rangefinder is bang on. Maybe someone serviced it sometime during the last two decades, and had access to an old stamp.
Looks can be deceiving. Though, of course, this one is as close to mint as possible..

A really well beat up camera tells me one thing: this thing worked so well someone kept coming back for more. Often mint condition cameras are non-functional and heavily used one work absolutely perfectly.

[nitroplait]

34 minutes ago, jaques said:

A really well beat up camera tells me one thing: this thing worked so well someone kept coming back for more. Often mint condition cameras are non-functional and heavily used one work absolutely perfectly.

There's probably some truth to that. 10 years ago I bought a MDa that had been heavily used for commercial microscope work - I have never seen a mount worn as much as on that camera.  Yet it had the original L seal and worked flawlessly.

I can't say the same about my other M cameras which have mostly seen light amateur usage, they don't seem to spin unless they get a trip to the spa every 10  year or so.

[lefse]

35 minutes ago, nitroplait said:

There's probably some truth to that. 10 years ago I bought a MDa that had been heavily used for commercial microscope work - I have never seen a mount worn as much as on that camera.  Yet it had the original L seal and worked flawlessly.

I can't say the same about my other M cameras which have mostly seen light amateur usage, they don't seem to spin unless they get a trip to the spa every 10  year or so.

True. The M2 pictured did belong to a press photographer. He used it with a 1939 5cm Elmar, which, incredibly, has pristine glass.

 

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