Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks Marc - I knew I can count on you to provide for the best information. "DR[N]GM" to you as well! Raimo photos at http://personal.inet.fi/private/raimo.korhonen my=F6s suomeksi - ---------- > From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us > Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V3 #353 > Date: 08. lokakuuta 1998 4:07 >=20 > 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 ? >=20 >=20 > "Definitely Broken Parts". This was a hallowed Leitz tradition, carr= ied > over from the Swiss watchmakers under whom Ernst Leitz I studied. Al= l > cameras which were incapable of working were so marked and were inten= ded > for destruction. >=20 > Unfortunately, a cabal of Lapp recidivists working in the Leitz facto= ry > 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 c= ould > thus garner, and the more evil to them. And, so, we occasionally fin= d > otherwise honourable Leitz cameras defaced with this evil sigil, "DBP= ". >=20 > Of course, collectors, having neither morals nor brains, love these g= uys > due to their rarity. The Melbourne Opera House Auction in Australia > recently experienced a new high, when a "DBP" marked Leica M-P sold f= or > over $AUS 94,000. >=20 > All of us owning Leica gear should examine our holdings. Gear marked "DRP" > MIGHT be worth a bit more than we had previously thought! >=20 > In my next installment, I will discuss the even more arcane, older, a= nd > 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 an= d, in > the interim, those having cameras so marked should immediately try to sell > them, as they are the dishonoured orphans of Wetzlar. >=20 > Marc >=20 > msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!