Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 1/26/01 8:06:56 AM, owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us writes: << From: Dennis Painter <dpainter@Bigfoot.com> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Reporter Message-ID: <3A71189A.EE77F4C9@bigfoot.com> References: <001101c0872b$b8a8fd40$6401a8c0@Workgroup> Frank, Great story, great advice! Dennis Frank Filippone wrote: > > This was a good 20 years ago.... > > A young couple walks into the Pasadena Camera Show.... they pull out an old > Black Leica in like new conditioon ( No brassing with all the gadgets that > came in that original leather case) that their Grandpa left them..... He > had died the month before.....They would like to know what it was worth..... > > No one would tell them, but everyone would like to know at what price they > wanted to sell it...They were offered $150 from one dealer, and they were > tempted to take the $$$ and run...... > > The gent I was sharing the table with gave them the only honest advice of > the day..... > > Put it in a vault and take it out when your kids are ready for college....It > will pay for their education.... > > Leica A Serial Number 1953. I remember the S/N exactly. I am not sure, but > I think it had an Anastigmat lens. > > Debra..... Put it in a vault and take it out when your kids are ready for > college....It will pay for their education. > > Frank Filippone > red735i@earthlink.net >> Not such good advice! Leicas, even old ones, are not good financial investments. The price appreciation of most Leicas is no better than the equivalent amount of money deposited in bank CDs and considerably less than funds invested in the stock market. A new Leica purchased in Germany in 1954 cost about $250. (I have the receipt to prove it.) That $250 cost of the Leica in 1954, compounded at 6% per year would have grown to about $3250, about the price of a new Leica kit today. Invested in the stock market at the average annual rate of return for those 44 years, it would have grown to $36,604, enough to buy a new camera and a BMW to drive it around in. Or perhaps the cost of college expenses at a state school. Buying Leicas only for value appreciation is simply a variation of the "Greater Fool" theory beloved of stock speculators. You may be a fool for paying so much but you hope there is always a greater fool who will buy it from you for more. The lady should have taken the money and bought Microsoft stock. Even with the severe recent price decline she would have had enough to send two kids to an Ivy league school. Larry Zeitlin