Model ii(d) number 73175

[noahnoé]

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Hello,

This camera comes from my father-in-law, who probably got it from his father, an anthropologist who had to leave Austria in 1936 and move to the U.K., where he raised his son (who became a famous architect and taught at UC Berkeley). There is also another Model ii, number 83342, and a model iii (144612). My own experience with Leica rangefinders is limited to a model iii (b) which I inherited from my own father, and love very much. I was surprised to see that this early Model ii shoots as well as my more recent, much more "modern" seeming rangefinder. Everything on it works perfectly, aperture is in mint condition and fires even smoother than my model iii b. I also use a modern R lens (180 Elmarit, 2.8, also from my father) for nature and wildlife photography. But I can't afford a Leica SLR, so I use a Sony body. Results are still quite impressive, especially in low light situations. So, forgive the off-topic digressions. I just wanted to provide a little background as I have never posted anything on this forum. My question is this: the baseplate on this camera has the open/close terms in English. Does this mean that this camera was made for export, or does it mean that the original baseplate was replaced for some reason? For informational purposes, I have tried to provide a decent image of the serial number on the lens, which is 344762. I am assuming at this point that it is original to the camera. The inside is also wonderfully clean, no visible dust, and the lense and viewfinder are clear and bright. I would like to provide more images but max size allowed is only 2.44 mb. 

 

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[jerzy]

very nice, early Leica II! Looks to be still in original condition. The lens however was not original with the camera, early II had 11 oclock lens and serial 344762 indicates production year of 1936. English open/close - could be both - replacement of export. Bottom plate has less patina than top plate, indication rerplacement, but this could be as well result of camera being used in everready case.

[Giuliobigazzi]

Lovely camera. 73175 was delivered to London on 6.2.32 as Leneukup o.k. (without cassette). 

[willeica]

6 hours ago, jerzy said:

very nice, early Leica II! Looks to be still in original condition. The lens however was not original with the camera, early II had 11 oclock lens and serial 344762 indicates production year of 1936. English open/close - could be both - replacement of export. Bottom plate has less patina than top plate, indication rerplacement, but this could be as well result of camera being used in everready case.

If delivered to London it probably would have had feet scale and 11 O'Clock, such as 78952 which was delivered to Pollock in Dublin via London on 25 April 1932. Delivery book entry follows.

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LYKUP was the term usually used for a II Model D with 50 Elmar. This batch for London, Ireland via London and Toronto seems to be all in feet scale.

William 

[Giuliobigazzi]

Leneukup is peculiar as it was only used for a few days along with other codes before Lykup stuck. The red writing on the left says ‘Alte sucherlinse’ referring to the old kind of  viewfinder lens use. 

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Edited August 31, 2024 by Giuliobigazzi

[noahnoé]

Thank you all for the wonderful information and excellent details. I believe I have resolved the lens discrepancy. The 11 O'clock was (or is, I should say) on the later model (83342). The number of that lens (which belongs on the earlier export model 73175) is 95680.  

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[willeica]

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On 8/31/2024 at 10:03 PM, Giuliobigazzi said:

Leneukup is peculiar as it was only used for a few days along with other codes before Lykup stuck. The red writing on the left says ‘Alte sucherlinse’ referring to the old kind of  viewfinder lens use. 

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LEANE had been used for the I Model A and LENEU for the I Model C standardised, so this makes sense. I have seen other examples where code words changed very quickly. Leica production and nomenclature was constantly evolving 92+ years ago. There was a range of code words for every model type depending on specifications, lenses and accessories supplied. I have found notes in some of the notebooks in the Leica Archives which indicate that changes happened very frequently and rapidly in that period e.g. with FILCA cassettes where there were about 3 changes in as many months.

21 hours ago, noahnoé said:

Thank you all for the wonderful information and excellent details. I believe I have resolved the lens discrepancy. The 11 O'clock was (or is, I should say) on the later model (83342). The number of that lens (which belongs on the earlier export model 73175) is 95680.  

Glad you worked that out. 95680 is a very low SN for a bell push lens. 5 digit SNs on lenses are sought after by collectors. My 78952, delivered on 25 April 1932 has an 11 O'Clock bell push lens with the SN 120710. It has Open/Close on the bottom plate clasp and the small retaining pin and tripod mount - Jerzy might like to comment.

William 

[noahnoé]

1 hour ago, willeica said:

LEANE had been used for the I Model A and LENEU for the I Model C standardised, so this makes sense. I have seen other examples where code words changed very quickly. Leica production and nomenclature was constantly evolving 92+ years ago. There was a range of code words for every model type depending on specifications, lenses and accessories supplied. I have found notes in some of the notebooks in the Leica Archives which indicate that changes happened very frequently and rapidly in that period e.g. with FILCA cassettes where there were about 3 changes in as many months.

Glad you worked that out. 95680 is a very low SN for a bell push lens. 5 digit SNs on lenses are sought after by collectors. My 78952, delivered on 25 April 1932 has an 11 O'Clock bell push lens with the SN 120710. It has Open/Close on the bottom plate clasp and the small retaining pin and tripod mount - Jerzy might like to comment.

William 

Thanks William. I suppose it's (shudder) time to move the original bell push lens back to the earlier model ii. I'll just leave that one alone and use the latter one with the 7 O'clock Elmar to shoot.