New limited edition digital camera, should I keep it or sell it?

[hirohhhh]

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I've never been into collecting cameras, so I don't know exactly how things are going. I bought Leica CL Bauhaus back in 2019 which was made in just 150 copies. I bought it because I liked the design, but when it arrived, I figured out I don't need it. I had other cameras that I used on a daily basis, and CL would not add anything to my photography and it would be a shame for me to use a limited edition camera if I don't have to. So I never even touched it, it was in the box since it arrived.

I'm wondering, is this worth anything more than when I purchased it? Are limited digital cameras add to the value over time, especially new ones? Would it be wise to keep it, even thought I don't plan to use it? Would I be able to get more money, let's say in 10 years than what I would get if I sell it now? What are the best places to sell these things? Common places like eBay, or there are any specialized places for Leica collectors?

I don't have to sell this camera right now, or not at all. But I also don't want to fool myself that I might have something valuable, or that it will be valuable one day, if that's not the case with digital cameras, even though they are limited, and even if they are completely new, untouched.

Edited February 14, 2022 by hirohhhh

[ianman]

I would sell ASAP if I were you.

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[250swb]

A good friend of mine dabbles in buying and selling good watches, and he plans well ahead and looks for pre-owned watches that celebrated an event etc. and buys them when they are cheapest and sells them when the next significant anniversary comes around marking the event. The collectors are fully primed at that point and maybe there will even be an anniversary watch made as well, and making the original commemorative watch even more desirable. So by my calculations you have about 47 years before the market will be ready, but that's only the 50th anniversary of the camera and the 150th for the Bauhaus, hang in there and wait for the 100th/200th anniversaries and you are on the money.  

[a.noctilux]

@hirohhhh

do what you want with it...

just take it as lesson to learn that :

-digital cameras will never gain values over time

-firstly you participated to finance new wonderful gear to come

- you would have hardtime to sell, so if you don't need the money , you can keep (oh!) or loose more money selling now

[willeica]

There is one main issue here and that is what is the answer to the question "how long do you expect to live?" A question few of us can answer with any degree of accuracy or certainty. New digital cameras are like new cars which incur a huge drop in value as soon as they are driven off the dealer's forecourt. What happens in the long term is beyond that consideration.

There are also the considerations about whether the value comes from the camera being a user item or from being a collector item. These are two different markets with two different value systems. There are some signs of late of early digital cameras becoming items of interest to collectors. In the case of the camera mentioned above it is way too early to make any judgement on potential future values. 2019 is only 3 years ago, which is just the blink of an eye in collecting terms. Film cameras which have been around for many years (and in the case of Leicas up to nearly a century now) and have well defined value patterns which can be easily determined by looking at the Collectiblend website or even, the usual caveats applying, looking at eBay. Digital cameras do not yet have such well defined value patterns.

Apart from the above, there may be a point worth considering here about whether such a camera might appeal now or in the future to Bauhaus enthusiasts. I presume that such exist.

William 

 

[luigi bertolotti]

3 hours ago, 250swb said:

A good friend of mine dabbles in buying and selling good watches, and he plans well ahead and looks for pre-owned watches that celebrated an event etc. and buys them when they are cheapest and sells them when the next significant anniversary comes around marking the event. The collectors are fully primed at that point and maybe there will even be an anniversary watch made as well, and making the original commemorative watch even more desirable. So by my calculations you have about 47 years before the market will be ready, but that's only the 50th anniversary of the camera and the 150th for the Bauhaus, hang in there and wait for the 100th/200th anniversaries and you are on the money.  

The founder of Bauhaus, Walter Gropius, was born in 1883... this could make 2033 the possible nearest year for some interest on this item...  

Edited February 14, 2022 by luigi bertolotti

[earleygallery]

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Sell it.

I can't see it increasing in price, and it seems like the CL line is being discontinued (?). It will hopefully sell for close to what you paid for it, to someone who wants a new CL now and likes that edition (but it is still a s/h camera).

 

[Al Brown]

On 2/14/2022 at 12:15 PM, a.noctilux said:

-digital cameras will never gain values over time

@hirohhhh please disregard this statement, it is utterly wrong.
I will post just ONE Leica digital camera example with skyrocketed value over time, there are dozens more on the web:

STRICTLY LIMITED EDITION M10 ZAGATO (a digital camera)
New price (2018): $21.600
Auctioned for $40.890 (36.000 euros including premium) in 2021 at Leitz photographica Auction #39.
 

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[pgk]

On 2/14/2022 at 6:14 AM, hirohhhh said:

I bought it because I liked the design, but when it arrived, I figured out I don't need it.

I don't have to sell this camera right now, or not at all.

Some things are appealing simply because of their looks and raison d'être. If you enjoy owning it and don't actually need to sell it you can either keep it, unused and simply to enjoy as an object or you can advertise it for sale at a price which you would be happy to sell it for. If you sell it then you will have established that others are prepared to pay what you think it should be worth and also establish a value for it.

Older digital cameras are now starting to be of 'historical' interest but in my experience (as someone who owned a few of the earlier dSLRs from Kodak) they have not as yet actually increased significantly in price/value over the years, although they are worth a little more than they were when they reached the 'bottom of the market'. But what value a limited edition digital camera will have relative to its cost is very difficult to figure out and can probably only really be established by actually testing the market.

[sandro]

You seem to have bought it because the design was appealing to you. Only when it arrived you realized that you didn't need the CL as a camera. So when you bought it for the design, why not keep it for the design? 

Lex