[Leica] Best camera deal ever

[charlie at droolassicpark.com (Charlie Meyer)]

Frank Filippone DO NOT READ!  I made you ill when I emailed you  
privately a month or so ago about this.

OK. As the old spy memoirs go, now all can be told:

One  778xxx DS M3, MR, 2/5.0cm 'cron, leather 'never ready' case  
$4.99.  2/35 8-element 'cron with goggles in a minty halfmoon case  
$2.99.  Priced in grease pencil on the cases sitting on the shelf.    
I knew it was a 'steal' of a price, so from an old biz card in the  
halfmoon case, I name searched the owner just to make sure it wasn't  
really 'stolen'..  Original owner deceased long enough to have a  
square named after him at his alma mater.  Seems to have had a  
vacation home at the lake 30 mi away from here.   I was told later  
that it was a local area donation (family member probably cleaning  
out the last of the deceased old man's deritius from the condo and  
neither they nor the store knew what they were worth).  There's  
apparently a fixed pricing guide, where film cameras are all priced  
in that range.. Grabbed a nice black Canon A-1 1.4/50 in a ratty case  
in the same haul for $4.99 too.  That lightning bolt hasn't struck  
twice yet.  I did buy an $8 plastic Canon RF there the other  
week...for the FD lens and body caps buried in the bag.

There was almost a whole dollar in sales tax tribute for the Gov'nor,  
too.  Methinks I still take the cake on this thread.  It'll take  
actual skill to do that in any other thread on the list.

Living here in Appalachia on what I once paid in taxes, I was indeed  
tempted to unload it all on feeBay for a quick buck, but something in  
me said 'bad Karma'.   My volunteer work (actually passion), has me  
saving homeless Basset Hounds from shelters all over West Virginia  
for a large regional breed rescue. Homeless dogs (particularly the  
old ones I provide an OAP home for) don't get adopted without pix.   
The volunteer that does the pages on our web site has a  picky  
standard for photos, so why not reach back to a more elegant  
implement in a day of 'auto' everything digital cameras? "No, that is  
not a blurred background, it's bokeh".

I have a reflex neck snap for garage sales and thrift stores to buy  
inexpensive dog crates for rescue.  I doubt I will ever have the  
Leica find again, but perhaps I might find a Rolleiflex/Rolleicord  
for portraiture.  "And pigs might fly, Matey..."

Entree into this mailing list, learning, and seeing examples of nice  
photography: Priceless.

Charlie


On Feb 15, 2007, at 11:10 PM, H. Ball Arche wrote:

> I still want to hear what Charlie Meyer paid for that
> M3 with the Summicron 50 & 35 he found in a thrift
> store.
>
>