Leica-Motor MOOLY pre-series corners

[PG Black nickel]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello everyone,
During a sale in Germany I won to my great surprise the auction on a Leica motor mooly with a very small serial number. 
Either none of the Leica collectors had seen this sale, or they hadn't seen the description properly, or they had a doubt?
This mooly has now arrived, it works perfectly at 2 speeds and is in very good condition. It is number 152. 
At the last Leitz sale, a Mooly 165 was on sale, and it was presented as a pre-series corner, although you didn't see many of these corners. 
So if the 165 is a pre-series motor mooly, so is the 152, since it's older! These corners are also barely visible on the 152, and the number is not preceded by N°. 
After some research, I found that these corners are more or less visible on many pre-series models, the most noticeable being the N° 144 sold at Leitz a few years ago. On older models, such as N°111 or N°127, these corners are not clearly visible.
Questions : Are these corners the result of a poor finish? From one copy to another they are more or less accentuated. But if they were the result of a defect, Leica would never have sold them! 
The number 144 is well preceded by "N°", the 152 not, one can think that Leica stopped this inscription between N°144 and 152 somebody did it see a mooly with a number higher than 144 and lower than 152?
There are a lot of questions about these pre-series corners.
 and...a very happy festive season to you all!

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!

[alan mcfall]

Here are a few early mooly's I have seen, from my data base.  I didn't look for cornors or No markings, so probably no help.   I'll add 152 and the 144 you show, to my info. Thanks

 

107	Die Leica, p39, V4, July 1938
111	Lager II p128
127	Rattey, 2 speed
134
140	VH
146	sold christies 2000 for $3740
150	VH p126
201
211	2 speed
213	2 speed
216	Lager II p 127
233	2 speed
237
260
263	2 speed
281
291	2 speed
296	2 speed

[Pyrogallol]

2949 for sale here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134867155186

[Leicapasion]

Alan, is there any MOOLY that loads more than 12 frames?.

[Giuliobigazzi]

150 has the ‘no’ engraving, so if 152 is without, one could assume 151 was the first without the ‘no’?

[willeica]

I have MOOLY No 726 (with 'Germany' engraved underneath the number) which has two speeds without the numbers and arrow markings and can be wound up to 12. However pushing the button to the left produces the higher speed. I have a recollection of hearing that when Leica found that the higher speed was unreliable, it removed the arrow and the numbers and put in some kind of restrictor to stop the higher speed from running. However, I think I also read that the restrictor could be removed and thus MOOLY items like mine exist. A photo of my item is below, but unfortunately the 7.3cm Hector lens obscures the number and you must also take my word that the drive has two speeds. The lock has 'open' and 'close' marked on either side of the mechanism. Export model with Germany marked?

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!

23 hours ago, PG Black nickel said:

So if the 165 is a pre-series motor mooly, so is the 152, since it's older!

We have all learnt not to rely totally on serial numbers as an indicator of actual manufacturing and distribution sequence. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find records of the manufacturing and distribution sequence of accessories. My view about No 144 is that it was probably a prototype or test model of some kind, so 152 might have also been a test item or just a very early production model.  a quick flick through the Wilhelm Albert diary does not revel any prototypes or test versions of the MOOLY. Lager surmises that items with the 'o' double underlined were pre-production test models and he mentions 113 in this context - see pages 58-61 of his Accessories book. 

William