Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/06

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Were Leicas always so expensive?
From: "Noel H. Charchuk" <nhcharch@calcna.ab.ca>
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 20:14:57 -0600 (MDT)

In response to Mark's question about prices of Leicas and other cameras
from the same time in the past, I have a list of prices from 1937. Here
are some examples of 35 mm cameras then.
Argus	12.50
Retina	57.50
Welta   50.00
Zeiss Nettax  165.00
Leica f   195.00
Contax III 268.00 - 423.00
All prices were US $, from a survey done in American Photography, I don't
know what you got with the Contax between the range shown, but it shows
Leica was certainly up there in price, and I would imagine it probably
represented 2 or 3 months wages for well-off people at that time.
Relatively speaking a new Leica is probably is a smaller percentage of an
average annual wage now, than 60+ years ago.
And Mark, if the T981 is $1900 I will not be buying it. If it is $450, I
may look for a g body instead.
Noel Charchuk