Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/02/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 12:07 AM 2/12/2009, Mark Kronquist wrote: >Just one an auction for a 135 Hektor on ebay (needed one) it had a SM >to M adapter on (okay Mark where are you going with this) > >The real Leitz SM to M adapter has a LENS SN engraved on it 824476 >(appx 1950) factory done. BTW Lens SN is 655xxx (appx 1948) not same >as the adapter. > >Never seen this before. Why? > >Back of adapter is engraved with 16073 which I assume is the part >number but not present on many of my other adapters. This is fascinating. I have a number of Leitz LTM to MBM adapters and some have those six-digit numbers. It never occurred to me that those would be lens serial numbers. We discussed this in some depth early on in the LUG days and never reached a resolution. You might well be right! 16073 does not seem to be a legitimate Leitz bestellnummer. I would suggest that the adapter belonged to Ted Grant and that this was his Driver's License number but then I remembered that King Edward VII had awarded him Canadian Drivers' License #1 back in 1905, and a box of cigars to boot. Said Good King Albert, "I was shocked that someone that old should be entrusted to operate something as dangerous as one of these flivvers but, by damn, if those Colonials in the frozen Northlands feel that someone of his years can be trusted, well, my constitutional duty says that I must give it to him. So, here you are, Ted!" But, then, Julius Caesar told Ted a similar tale when he awarded him the Roman Teamster License I back in XLVI BC. Seriously, I had never thought that the six-digit number was a lens serial number but that is quite possible, and the penny drops. I may have more of these, or maybe I've sold them over the years, but the one ring I can put my hands on on short notice is a 5cm ring marked 781871 on the front and 3941 on the back. None of my other rings seem to bear markings of any kind. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!