Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:57 PM 1998-10-07 -0500, Jim Licquia wrote: >today I bought an old M4 , serial 1214XXX, at the top engraved "DBP" Does >anyone know the meaning of this ? "Definitely Broken Parts". This was a hallowed Leitz tradition, carried over from the Swiss watchmakers under whom Ernst Leitz I studied. All cameras which were incapable of working were so marked and were intended for destruction. Unfortunately, a cabal of Lapp recidivists working in the Leitz factory managed to steal a number of such cameras on the loading-dock whence they were to be shipped to their doom, and sold them for the kopeks they could thus garner, and the more evil to them. And, so, we occasionally find otherwise honourable Leitz cameras defaced with this evil sigil, "DBP". Of course, collectors, having neither morals nor brains, love these guys due to their rarity. The Melbourne Opera House Auction in Australia recently experienced a new high, when a "DBP" marked Leica M-P sold for over $AUS 94,000. All of us owning Leica gear should examine our holdings. Gear marked "DRP" MIGHT be worth a bit more than we had previously thought! In my next installment, I will discuss the even more arcane, older, and rarer marking, "DRGM" , which stood for "Does Really [Need] General Maintenance" and, as always, there is a tale here as to why the third Ernst Leitz' nephew cousin bracketed the [Need]. But more of this later and, in the interim, those having cameras so marked should immediately try to sell them, as they are the dishonoured orphans of Wetzlar. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!