Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:07 AM 21-02-98 +0000, you wrote: >On 21 Feb 98 at 13:30, thibault collin wrote: > >> What is this M3? >> Look at the pic : >> http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6503751 >> > >This is very interesting. This is being presented as a null series >Leica M3, one of the early prototypes for works testing and also >given out to a few external photographers for evaluation. "Muster" >(which the seller claims is scratched on the inside of the back) >means "model" or "sample." > >I am by no means an expert on these things, but a number of things >make me suspicious. > >1. Shutter speed scale 1-2-4-8-15... The shutter that used this scale > was introduced in 1957, long after initial production. Early M3's > had the scale 1-2-5... >2. Black paint. I have never heard of a black paint works prototype. >3. Five screws exposed on the mount. The first 600 M3's, and thus I > would suspect the prototypes, had four screws exposed on the > mount. >4. Dim blurred picture, can't see the strap lugs or rewind knob or > pointer in the frame counter, all of which would tell us more > about whether this is a fake. > >Thus I would advise caution on this. A valuable works prototype >with unique black paint suddenly shows up out of nowhere, with the >wrong shutter scale and mount, advertised with dim blurred pictures >by a seller who has no history on EBay before one month ago and >pleads ignorance about Leicas but sets reserve at $2000... I could be >wrong, but this sets off alarm bells for me. > >-Patrick Someone sent me a few more photographs of the camera. The strap lugs are triangular, indicating an older M3, there is a screw missing from the front of the camera between the viewfinder and frames windows, indicating a later model M3, and the rewind knob appears to have two red dots on it, also indicating a later model M3. Further, the '128' numbering on the top of the camera doesn't appear to be in the same format as the 'Ur' M3 that appears in Rogliatti. All in all, a strange beast, if it is for real. Perhaps it has been modified over the years. Dan C.