mthomas
Member
It has been a while since I posted. I hope you are all well.
I only recently have become a Leica owner: I bought a black paint M4 that has been converted for use with the N.Y Motor.
The serial number would indicate late '68 or very early '69 production [1206808].
I am prompted to write because I recently perused the Westlicht / Leica auction online catalogue. (The auction ended on November 21st, 2020.)
One of the cameras described was a black paint "fundus" M4 MDa -- also claimed to be of 1969 vintage -- whose serial number is 1206838. (See images.)
My question is, would Leica have really been so capricious in those days that it apparently plucked cameras from its "production line" at seeming random (that is, to be sold to Zeiss as stripped-down, ophthalmic specialty devices)? I would have thought
that a consecutive block of cameras, by serial number, would have been so consigned.
My understanding is that a lot of cameras were sent to Zeiss, and that some were thereafter "repatriated" and refitted as "parts-bin" specials by Leica at a later time.
How did my M4 escape such a signal honor, I wonder? Or is the "nearness" of their respective serial numbers mere happenstance?
Thanks, Marc
I only recently have become a Leica owner: I bought a black paint M4 that has been converted for use with the N.Y Motor.
The serial number would indicate late '68 or very early '69 production [1206808].
I am prompted to write because I recently perused the Westlicht / Leica auction online catalogue. (The auction ended on November 21st, 2020.)
One of the cameras described was a black paint "fundus" M4 MDa -- also claimed to be of 1969 vintage -- whose serial number is 1206838. (See images.)
My question is, would Leica have really been so capricious in those days that it apparently plucked cameras from its "production line" at seeming random (that is, to be sold to Zeiss as stripped-down, ophthalmic specialty devices)? I would have thought
that a consecutive block of cameras, by serial number, would have been so consigned.
My understanding is that a lot of cameras were sent to Zeiss, and that some were thereafter "repatriated" and refitted as "parts-bin" specials by Leica at a later time.
How did my M4 escape such a signal honor, I wonder? Or is the "nearness" of their respective serial numbers mere happenstance?
Thanks, Marc
