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Leica "Landpolitzei" What is this ?????


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The engraving "Landpolizei" is strange. There has never been a police unit in Germany with this name. I don't know, if there has been anything called "Landpolizei" in Austria or Switzerland, but i would not give this engraving any value at all. The second serial number on the camera's top is strange as well.

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According to a quick search on the internets, the Landpolizei appears to be the post WWII Bavarian (Germany) policeforce. Apparently it is now called the Landespolizei, which means pretty much the same thing. It looks like they recycled a Luftwaffe camera for their own use. I believe FL was used on Luftwaffe cameras.

 

These articles are in German:

 

Bayerische Polizei - Polizeilicher Einzeldienst in Bayern: Von der Landpolizei zur Landespolizei

 

Bayerische Polizei - Die Bayerische Landpolizei im Wiederaufbau

 

I wonder if James Lager is aware of this camera. You could send him an email here:

 

James L. Lager

Leica Researcher and Historian

E-mail: jlager@bellatlantic.net

 

hope this helps

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The engraving "Landpolizei" is strange. There has never been a police unit in Germany with this name. I don't know, if there has been anything called "Landpolizei" in Austria or Switzerland, but i would not give this engraving any value at all. The second serial number on the camera's top is strange as well.

 

 

seems like a defaced original luftwaffen-leica, converted to 3f after the war. the word landpolizei is not common in austria, it was called gendarmerie. on the other hand if you google landpolizei you will find that the gendarmerie in bavaria was called so - so it might be no fake.

 

ups: mr lager beat me by a few minutes

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I tend to agree with Harry: not a fake (it would be stupid, for a faker, choosing such an engraving) but probably a factory modified IIIc (flash synchro is IIIf type) : I don't dare to judge the price... such conversions are not SO rare... the asked price isn't obscene... quoting it as "extremely rare" is someway an exaggeration: of course any "special" engraving is "rare" ... but many private and public proprietors made special engravings on thair cameras: I saw an old Ic in the surgery department of the Hospital of my town... it was engraved "Spedali civili di Brescia"... a well done engraving which, I think, does not add any significant value to a standard camera.

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Here is Jim's response:

 

Greetings Arturo, Leica IIIc 364059 was shipped to Berlin on 2.10.40 on shipment 19148. It is entered as Luftwaffe

in the delivery ledger book. As a Luftwaffe issue Leica it was engraved with the well known "flieger number " Fl.No.38079

and the words Luftwaffen-Eigentum. The Luftwaffen-Eigentum has been milled out and replaced with Land polizei. I

suspect this police force may be involved with land management or forest service. The camera has been converted to

IIIf specificatons. Probably done in the early 1950's. The Summitar lens 550926 was shipped to Berlin on 3.10.40 on

shipment 19148 and is entered as Lu. ( Luftwaffe). The lens should be engraved Luftwaffen-Eigentum but this seems

to be absent. Perhaps parts have been replaced thus fully demilitarizing the lens. We can conclude that this is a former

Luftwaffe Leica /lens combination that was transformed into civilian mode after the War. Thank you for bringing this

artifact to my attention. Best wishes, Jim Lager.

 

Regards,

 

Arturo

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I suspect this police force may be involved with land management or forest service.

 

Funny, Mr. Lager had the same thoughts about "Landpolizei" as I first had reading the engraving, which brought me to the - wrong - conclusion that it was no engraving of a German police force.

 

"Land" in German can mean "state" as well as "land", countryside" or "rural area". Usually, if "Land-" is used in connection with stately affairs one says "Landes-". e.g "Landwirtschaft" is German for farming, "Landeswirtschaft" could be used for the whole economy of a state.

 

"Landespolizei" is the common name of the police organisation for the whole state opposed to municipal or county police. But in Bavaria - which is a state in the Federal Republic of Germany and existed years before the Federal Republic was founded - the "Landespolizei" was called "Landpolizei".

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