sienarot
Well-known
I had acquired this M3 a while back with the intent on making this a fun little restoration project, however I've just been too busy with work and other projects to put any time into it, so I've decided to sell it. Unfortunately, I've been buying and selling so much gear in the past little while, I have no recollection as to how much I purchased it for (going back to my transaction records was no help)! So what would some of you suggest would be a fair price for this?
Pics:
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_01.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_02.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_03.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_04.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_05.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_06.jpg
As you can see, it's in user condition (otherwise there'd be no point in making it a fixer-upper! 🙂 ). There's a fair bit of scratches on the bottom plate and a couple major ones on the top plate. Dents on the bottom plate and top corners. The back door's paint is chipped. I don't have a front cap for it.
Mechanically, it's sound as far as I can tell. I'm not too sure how accurate the shutter speeds are, but they seem on par against my Bessa (the only other RF I've had experience with). Self timer works. Film advance seems smooth -- a lot more smoother than my Bessa R2 and L, that's for sure. My limited knowledge of Leicas seem to indicate that this is a very good vintage, being over the 1.1 million serial number.
The only quirk is the viewfinder isn't as clear as I expect it to be. People seem to rant and rave about how great M3 viewfinders are, so I'm not sure if this raised my expectations to super human levels or if the viewfinder for this copy is actually less than adequate compared to other M3s of the same vintage. There certainly isn't any difficulty seeing through it, though I find it didn't meet up to the reputation I've read it to be. If I were to describe it, I'd say it looks like it does my Bessa viewfinder, but if I rubbed fingerprints all over it.
That being said, what would be a fair price to sell this for? I'd like this to be a good enough price so that whoever wants it feels it's fair enough to deal with the condition (I've seen this referred to as "character"? 😉 ).
Pics:
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_01.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_02.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_03.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_04.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_05.jpg
http://www.typicalfish.com/images/forsale/leica_m3_06.jpg
As you can see, it's in user condition (otherwise there'd be no point in making it a fixer-upper! 🙂 ). There's a fair bit of scratches on the bottom plate and a couple major ones on the top plate. Dents on the bottom plate and top corners. The back door's paint is chipped. I don't have a front cap for it.
Mechanically, it's sound as far as I can tell. I'm not too sure how accurate the shutter speeds are, but they seem on par against my Bessa (the only other RF I've had experience with). Self timer works. Film advance seems smooth -- a lot more smoother than my Bessa R2 and L, that's for sure. My limited knowledge of Leicas seem to indicate that this is a very good vintage, being over the 1.1 million serial number.
The only quirk is the viewfinder isn't as clear as I expect it to be. People seem to rant and rave about how great M3 viewfinders are, so I'm not sure if this raised my expectations to super human levels or if the viewfinder for this copy is actually less than adequate compared to other M3s of the same vintage. There certainly isn't any difficulty seeing through it, though I find it didn't meet up to the reputation I've read it to be. If I were to describe it, I'd say it looks like it does my Bessa viewfinder, but if I rubbed fingerprints all over it.
That being said, what would be a fair price to sell this for? I'd like this to be a good enough price so that whoever wants it feels it's fair enough to deal with the condition (I've seen this referred to as "character"? 😉 ).
