Hansa Canon #257

[Sonnar2]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=320363839331
This saved me >4.000 bucks and prevented me from becoming a "collector" (according to Fred's definition) !
5 of 6 bids were in the last 5 seconds ! Thrilling!
It looks like sniping is working again on German ebay.
Having seen the last prices of Hansa Canons I think this can be considered a low final price, in particular as the camera still looks splendid and in good condition. Plus it is one of the early Hansa Canons with the depressed finder area, a (as P. Dechert notes) feature left of the Kwanon

 

[brobbins]

Beautiful camera!

 

[brobbins]

Frank,

I think Fred would approve of you becoming a "collector" with this combined Nikon/Canon combination. It would also be fun to try taking photos with such an early Hansa. Too bad about the snipers.

 

[bennyng]

Very well kept specimen and certainly priced lower than usual. Shame about the last minute rush on the price.

Cheers,

 

[raid]

It is a mystery to me why there are so many amazingly beautiful designs out there from the past and then the newer models can often be rather bad looking in comparison. Why not build on such beauty and make things even better looking?

 

[crawdiddy]

That is indeed a beautiful camera. However, I would be uncomfortable shooting with it. Or possibly even touching it.

FWIW, I have purchased from Bergmann Feine Klassiche Kameras. They might be OK if you're in Germany. But they were not very savvy about shipping to the U.S. For example, they insisted on using Deutsche Post, which provided no tracking mechanism. They were curiously misinformed about how the shipment would work, i.e. who would actually deliver the package once it got to the U.S. They told me an armored car would deliver it to my door. I thought the item was lost when it didn't arrive after a month. But Bergmann refused to refund my payment, due to some obscure U.S. Postal Treaty, which required a "postal inquiry." The camera/lens actually arrived after about 6 weeks. It was delivered, not by armored car, but by one of those U.S. Postal Service delivery trucks. You know, the ones with the steering wheel on the right, sliding door, no lock.

 

[Sonnar2]

I wonder if postwar Nikon S-series lenses can be attached to the Nippon Kogaku mount of the prewar CANONs. The auction picture is the first picture I knew of with the mount in detail. (Maybe most owners don't detach the lens of their HANSA CANONs in fear to break something)

BTW, does anybody know how many HANSA CANONs supposed to exist?
According to Dechert no production figures from the prewar time survived at CANON, but he cites employees that output didn't excess a few cameras per week. The S/N 257 at the Nippon Kogaku lens mount is one of the earliest in picture and the 1.xxx S/N at the bottom is also pretty early.

Japanese camera and lens makers were known not to start with S/N "1" because it looked better with higher numbers... 🙄

This one surely looks to be in a "working condition"! (like hundreds or thousands of Leica II/III still are!)

Raid, I am 100% with you about beauty of this camera. The HANSA CANON was an self-confident, unique design - not a "copy of something". It was far more authentic than the predecessors - before the "V"/"P" series (maybe the most important development in CANON history)

About sniping auctions. Of course I do it as well. It helps saving money. Have a fix price. The rest is pure luck. Obviously my price was lower than of the folks who overbid me. It has saved me ~4.000 bucks (I wouldn't have bid at a price of 6.000). My bid was placed, some were higher. The bad side is, someone other has won this camera in a condition we will not see it again for a while.

 

[brobbins]

Peter Dechert indicates in his book that around 1100 Canon Hansas were produced. Included in this number are cameras that are essentially identical except lacking the Hansa engraving. The cameras with the Hansa engraving are much more numerous than those without; Peter estimates that only 20-25% of the cameras were without the Hansa engraving. Hayato Ueyama's book lists a number of number of these Hansa and "Original" cameras (roughly 100), of which around 25 have lower lens mount numbers, and less than 10 of which have lower base plate numbers. The camera that was sold appears to be in unusually good condition.

 

[Sonnar2]

The camera that was sold appears to be in unusually good condition.

Moreover: Until this auction I thougt CANON HANSAs were roughly made because so many of them show rust.
These pictures show clearly that the outer finish once were made up to LEICA II/III standard -- at least in the pre-war time...

Japan was a lot more destroyed in WWII than Germany, many more people living in wooden houses prone to fire and stuff like that... to me it seems logically that FAR LESS (of the 1100) Japanese cameras survived the war compared to German Leica's...

 

[HuubL]

What a beauty indeed. It was in my watch list. Not that I had planned on bidding on it, but just to see how high it would go. Frank, had you really put a bid on this one?

 

[Sonnar2]

Of course I did, because with 3,000 USD and one single bid close to ending it was a bargain.