alvare Posted April 6 Share #1 Â Posted April 6 Advertisement (gone after registration) I've just acquired a Leica I 1930. I bought it in a antique shop.How can I get the original owner?. It brought a name... Commandant Z Gossiaux Bruxelles...Does someone have any idea how to know him?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 6 Posted April 6 Hi alvare, Take a look here How to know an original owner my antique Leica?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted April 6 Share #2  Posted April 6 There are 887 people named Gossiaux in Belgium and he is probably the father or grandfather of a few of them... Good luck 😉 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #3  Posted April 6 (edited) Yeah... He's maybe an antique soldier. Fir the target (Commandant Z Gossiaux). In the target there's a direction and an antique phone number. I'm afraid I have to ask one by one 😔 Edited April 6 by alvare Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardC Posted April 6 Share #4  Posted April 6 It should be easy enough to correlate a name and an ancient phone number to an address if you have access to old telephone directories. That will narrow-down the search for civil records: birth, death, marriage, etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted April 6 Share #5 Â Posted April 6 First ensure it is a genuine Leica, any pictures of it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitroplait Posted April 6 Share #6 Â Posted April 6 5 hours ago, alvare said: How can I get the original owner? Anyone who could afford a Leica in 1930 would be dead by now. What kind of information would you hope to get from his family? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted April 6 Share #7 Â Posted April 6 Advertisement (gone after registration) They might claim it was stolen and demand it back! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #8 Â Posted April 6 Well, I would like to meet these people because it would be a travel to the past... Maybe I might see any photos taken by this camera... I'm trying to add some photos but with this app is not working.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted April 6 Share #9  Posted April 6 What did mean (in 1930) the title "Commandant" ? Was it related to Army only ? Or Army and Police ? Or Police only ? (In Italy, for instance, the title of "Comandante" was used, before WWII, almost exclusively for Navy Officiers) This could be of help to identify the person... archives on people in public functions, and military expecially, are often available, with time & patience...  Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #10  Posted April 6 (edited) 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! Edited April 6 by alvare Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/420295-how-to-know-an-original-owner-my-antique-leica/?do=findComment&comment=5782684'>More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #11 Â Posted April 6 (edited) Yeah. I think I must to read antique files about commandants. So, maybe the owner was a commandant who had the possibility of having a Leica. I don't know if in those ages they were so expensive as today!!! Edited April 6 by alvare Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted April 6 Share #12  Posted April 6 (edited) Any comparision with today prices, today mean wages and similar... is difficult and basically nonsense...🤔Leica has always been a costly camera, anyway... in 1930 the decision, for a "normal" amateur, to buy a LITTLE FORMAT camera was someway a "strange" one... this makes to think that maybe this "Commandant" had a specific reason to buy a Leica,,, supposed it was not for professional- related reasons,, who knows ? One of the sure plus of the Leica was that it was compact, easy to carry, with great capability to take MANY good pictures with a single roll of film... something to relate with your free time activities... My father, (born 1909) for instance was a passionate mountaineer (as me 😉) : he probably could afford a Leica, but in the 30's he used a 6x9 bellows camera... I remember he told me that he suffered a little that the number of pics he could take was limited, and most of the pictures I have from that era are contact prints (not costly and quick to have) , with few enlarged prints, and this clearly was sufficiently good for him.. others could decide for a different choice. BTW : "Rue des aduaquities" still exists in Bruxelles.. and not so many names begin with "Z"... together with the "Commandant" role, some good points to start a search... 😉 Edited April 6 by luigi bertolotti 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #13 Â Posted April 6 Thanks a lot everyone for you advice... I'll keep on this search Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvare Posted April 6 Author Share #14 Â Posted April 6 It's very interesting that you say. In other words, as today, having a Leica en the 30s, used to mean something... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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