Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]B.D. Colen wrote..... >Since Marc is invariably right about things of this sort...Doesn't that mean >that given the limited number of Leicas made - compared to Ns or Cs - every >camera that is collected does indeed depress the overall stock and drive up >prices. For instance, while M4-2s may have no value as collectibles, the >fact that a goodly number of M2s, M3s and some M4s - to say nothing of M5s, >may be, reduces the overall number of all Ms in circulation and drives up >the price of cameras like the M4-2. While in theory the above is true....I suspect that the major influence is due to users.... I base that somewhat on the following In the issue of Shutterbug that I surveyed... The M4-2 was the rarest of the M models I counted... out of the 336 M cameras I found, there were over 100 M-3's, M-4's came in second, M-2's third, M-6's a close 4th, M-5's 5th, M4-P's slightly edging out the M-4-2's last with around 15 or so of each. Several of the M4-2's were the Chrome versions with collector prices. If someone wants the specifics I can find the tally sheet. There are more M cameras out there among the Shutterbug dealers as several don't list all of the cameras they have in stock. Except for the M-5, the user cameras M-6, M4-P and M4-2 are far harder to find than the collectible ones. That suggests that users are driving the market not collectors. I would propose that prices for mint M-3's, M-2's and M-4's will keep going up as it is harder for collectors and dealers to find truly mint cameras. Less than mint models tend to get ratcheted up as well since prices tend to have a somewhat relational basis. Marc wrote. > Bunk. I doubt if 5% of collectors EVER sell. You are confusing > collectors > with dealers and with buy-and-sell types. I'm wouldn't know the percentage of collectors that ever sell equipment...... but judging from the LHSA catalog I would have to suspect that it's a lot higher than 5%. I was referring to those who purchase things with intent to sell when said items aren't of the quality level for the collection but too cheap to pass up and could be traded or sold to get something of value. I have a small collection (70-100) of cameras in storage (no Leicas sorry) and it's pretty hard for me to sell anything from it...... because I know I'll never be able to find items of near mint condition for the prices I paid. So I can relate to what Marc stated. On the other hand I don't buy duplicates of anything unless it's really a super bargain because that takes money away from other purchases . I guess it must be that every collector I've bought from or talked to must be the buy-sell type, so my personal experience may not be entirely correct.. Duane Birkey HCJB World Radio Quito Ecuador