Looking for a specific Leif iiif with serial #7911xx

[James Lu]

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I am actually want to try my luck to find a Leica camera body which matches my birthday. I have identified the body as a iiif...

I talked to Youxin Ye about my idea who believes such efforts would probably be fruitless but I still want to give it a try....

[LocalHero1953]

36 minutes ago, James Lu said:

I am actually want to try my luck to find a Leica camera body which matches my birthday. I have identified the body as a iiif...

I talked to Youxin Ye about my idea who believes such efforts would probably be fruitless but I still want to give it a try....

You were born on 7 September 2011? Welcome to the forum, kiddo! 😉

[James Lu]

8 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

You were born on 7 September 2011? Welcome to the forum, kiddo! 😉

Nov，1979，heha

[a.noctilux]

From our Wiki :

so 1955 made Leica IIIf (RD), 99 units, you have choices 😉

Good luck.

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Leica_IIIf

790001

799000

Leica IIIf (RD)

1955

9000

[Anbaric]

47 minutes ago, James Lu said:

I am actually want to try my luck to find a Leica camera body which matches my birthday. I have identified the body as a iiif...

I talked to Youxin Ye about my idea who believes such efforts would probably be fruitless but I still want to give it a try....

Perhaps, before you go any further in attempting this longest of long shots, you might ask Leica about the history of the camera. They may be able to tell you when and where it was first delivered:

info@leica-camera.com

That will at least confirm the serial number was actually assigned and the camera you want once existed. I imagine you've already Googled the serial number and model to see if it has surfaced online in recent years? Of course many cameras will be sold without the serial number ever being stated in the advert, so you'd have to be very lucky to find it that way even if you keep searching for it regularly. And any IIIf you look at randomly will only have a 1 in 80,000 chance of being the one you want. I suppose you could contact every dealer you can find and ask them to look out for it, but be prepared for some baffled replies (and a premium on the price if it ever turns up).

You might be better off doing the lottery, or finding an M4-2 from your birth year.

[250swb]

It's a project, people need something to stop them going into meltdown about the world around them.

[James Lu]

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1 hour ago, Anbaric said:

Perhaps, before you go any further in attempting this longest of long shots, you might ask Leica about the history of the camera. They may be able to tell you when and where it was first delivered:

info@leica-camera.com

That will at least confirm the serial number was actually assigned and the camera you want once existed. I imagine you've already Googled the serial number and model to see if it has surfaced online in recent years? Of course many cameras will be sold without the serial number ever being stated in the advert, so you'd have to be very lucky to find it that way even if you keep searching for it regularly. And any IIIf you look at randomly will only have a 1 in 80,000 chance of being the one you want. I suppose you could contact every dealer you can find and ask them to look out for it, but be prepared for some baffled replies (and a premium on the price if it ever turns up).

You might be better off doing the lottery, or finding an M4-2 from your birth year.

I guess I am still young and have a few decade to try my luck... It may never happen, but I am relatively lucky that it appears there is a serial number that exists to resemble my birthday... Thanks for the interest and help...

[willeica]

I have a IIIc that was delivered 3 days before I was born. Probably as close as I’m going to get. I did not trace it. I just got it at an auction and then checked with the archives.

William 
 

 

[250swb]

The skill would be to get one built on the day you were conceived, but I guess asking ma and pa that question could become awkward. 

[willeica]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

The skill would be to get one built on the day you were conceived, but I guess asking ma and pa that question could become awkward. 

In my case I will have to wait until I join them in Heaven. To complete my story, I asked a friend to take a photo of myself with the camera of the same age on my 70th birthday. It is a nice camera - see photo below. It is a pity that I am not in the same condition. This is one of the downsides of finding a camera the same age as yourself. 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

William 

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by willeica

[rfaspen]

If I understand correctly, James Lu is simply looking for a IIIf with a serial number that starts with 7911.....

That doesn't seem too onerous.  At first I thought he (?) wanted to find a body made during the same month as his birth, much as willeica did.  Of course, when I read that the birthday is Nov-1979 I chuckled because I doubt many Barnacks we're made that year.

Good luck James.  I think you have a reasonable chance at your quest.

[PG Black nickel]

attention according to the countries the date of birth is written differently, you should seek a standard leica (29/11/79....291179) or a III F(791129) !!!!

[willeica]

4 hours ago, PG Black nickel said:

attention according to the countries the date of birth is written differently, you should seek a standard leica (29/11/79....291179) or a III F(791129) !!!!

All confusing. I thought he was looking for a camera delivered in the same month as he was delivered. In my case the camera was 'delivered' (means sent from Wetzlar) 3 calendar days before I was born, which could mean that it might actually have arrived on the same day that I did. In my case, my month number and my day number for my birth are the same, so the US /European thing would make no difference. As they are both single digits, if the zeroes were left out then, using the other method, I should be looking for a Model I A, made long before I was born. I have a I Model A from 1926 which contains the same digits for the day and month of my birth, but not for the year. It could all get a bit complicated. Trying to find an exact numeric match is not as easy as finding one from the same month, or, if you are lucky, the same day. Most people are happy just to have one from the same year in which they were born. 

William

[James Lu]

10 minutes ago, willeica said:

All confusing. I thought he was looking for a camera delivered in the same month as he was delivered. In my case the camera was 'delivered' (means sent from Wetzlar) 3 calendar days before I was born, which could mean that it might actually have arrived on the same day that I did. In my case, my month number and my day number for my birth are the same, so the US /European thing would make no difference. As they are both single digits, if the zeroes were left out then, using the other method, I should be looking for a Model I A, made long before I was born. I have a I Model A from 1926 which contains the same digits for the day and month of my birth, but not for the year. It could all get a bit complicated. Trying to find an exact numeric match is not as easy as finding one from the same month, or, if you are lucky, the same day. Most people are happy just to have one from the same year in which they were born. 

William

Hi, guys, thanks a lot for showing up interest. My birthday is November 1979. So I am trying to find the camera with series numbers 79111×...

On 8/19/2022 at 3:54 PM, Anbaric said:

Perhaps, before you go any further in attempting this longest of long shots, you might ask Leica about the history of the camera. They may be able to tell you when and where it was first delivered:

info@leica-camera.com

That will at least confirm the serial number was actually assigned and the camera you want once existed. I imagine you've already Googled the serial number and model to see if it has surfaced online in recent years? Of course many cameras will be sold without the serial number ever being stated in the advert, so you'd have to be very lucky to find it that way even if you keep searching for it regularly. And any IIIf you look at randomly will only have a 1 in 80,000 chance of being the one you want. I suppose you could contact every dealer you can find and ask them to look out for it, but be prepared for some baffled replies (and a premium on the price if it ever turns up).

You might be better off doing the lottery, or finding an M4-2 from your birth year.

 

[Anbaric]

23 minutes ago, James Lu said:

Hi, guys, thanks a lot for showing up interest. My birthday is November 1979. So I am trying to find the camera with series numbers 79111×...

Yes, I got that - I just put in the thing about the M4-2 (and maybe added to the confusion) because finding a camera from your birth year is a much easier challenge than finding a camera with a unique serial number that matches your birthday. But how about your birthday in dd-mm-yy or mm-dd-yy format? - that gives you 2 more chances! 🙂

Edit: I see that's also suggeted above.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Anbaric

[romualdo]

I have a III, serial # 110658 - 11th June 1958 by Australian (& UK?) date standards

not too far from my dob, September 3, 1956

[willeica]

7 hours ago, Anbaric said:

Yes, I got that - I just put in the thing about the M4-2 (and maybe added to the confusion) because finding a camera from your birth year is a much easier challenge than finding a camera with a unique serial number that matches your birthday. But how about your birthday in dd-mm-yy or mm-dd-yy format? - that gives you 2 more chances! 🙂

Edit: I see that's also suggeted above.

That was exactly the point that I was making. To me a camera made and delivered at the time I was born is more significant than a coincidence of numbers and even more significant was to have my photo taken with the camera by a friend exactly 70 years later.

I have also used a camera delivered here in Dublin in 1932 to photograph the exact building from which is was sold. If I make it to 2032, I intend to do a centenary photo. I will be 82 at that time. I have shown the camera here before and I have personally inspected the delivery register in Wetzlar. The camera is engraved with the name and address of the Dublin dealer, but no record, available today, indicates the name of the original owner.

I also have a brass lens made in Dublin in 1875 and in 2025 I will use it to photograph the location (building is long since gone) it was made on its 150th anniversary. I have a copy of the production register which indicates the exact date in January 1875 that it was finished. 

William 

Edited August 22, 2022 by willeica

[earleygallery]

I bought a number plate which has my month/year of birth and my initials.

You could always just have your date of birth engraved on a Leica of 1979 vintage? Maybe an R3? Leica even released a gold plated edition to commemorate Oscar Barnack's birthday - https://www.cameraquest.com/R3Gold.htm

[andybarton]

On 8/19/2022 at 10:34 PM, 250swb said:

The skill would be to get one built on the day you were conceived, but I guess asking ma and pa that question could become awkward. 

My M2 was made nine months before I was born (by complete happenstance) so it's not impossible. I doubt that Leica's records are accurate to a specific day.

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[James Lu]

18 hours ago, PG Black nickel said:

attention according to the countries the date of birth is written differently, you should seek a standard leica (29/11/79....291179) or a III F(791129) !!!!

That's exactly what I mean.