Early Fed with a missing digit?

[Dralowid]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-R...3fc40b6&pid=100033&rk=2&rkt=4&sd=271839815125

Hmmm, looks interesting. If you add any number the end of the serial number it nearly makes sense but not quite...but then you could add a number to the beginning and get it right! 8xxx maybe?

 

[Sid836]

There have been some early Fed cameras with three digit serials:
http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?414372438

All of those that I have seen had a strange glossy finish instead of the ordinary vulcanite cover.

 

[johannielscom]

It IS an early model, it has the sort-of 'free standing' RF window pane and the 'toilet-bowl' shaped housing on the shutter dial.

Later models had an angular housing on the shutter dial and the RF window's top was flush with the top plate.

The 'toilet bowl' shutter housing (labour-intensive round shape) was abandoned at about the same date as it was on the Leica II, impossible to say who went first with that.

 

[Dralowid]

It IS an early model, it has the sort-of 'free standing' RF window pane and the 'toilet-bowl' shaped housing on the shutter dial.

Later models had an angular housing on the shutter dial and the RF window's top was flush with the top plate.

The 'toilet bowl' shutter housing (labour-intensive round shape) was abandoned at about the same date as it was on the Leica II, impossible to say who went first with that.

I agree that it is an early camera but it is not in the three digit range as per its serial number. It no longer gas the collimation hole or the 'kick in vf window moulding which is why I suggest around 8000...?

 

[johannielscom]

I agree that it is an early camera but it is not in the three digit range as per its serial number. It no longer gas the collimation hole or the 'kick in vf window moulding which is why I suggest around 8000...?

Sure thing, I think your suggestion is very plausible indeed. I was merely thinking out loud when it came to the possibility of it being a forgery, like happens so often with Russian cameras.

IMHO opinion this is a legit one, for an 8000 range serial number indeed.