Hm. Yes, tP may well have discovered a veritable cornucopia of preloved cameras. A Contax G1, if it works and for however long it continues to function (the Gs are known for Sudden Death Syndrome), is a true bargain.
As for the rest of us, getting these cameras out of Venezuela and safely into the hands of overseas buyers could be a challenging game.
A cautionary tale here, for what it's worth.
Many years ago in Indonesia I came across an old, decrepit photo studio, long closed. Enquiries revealed the owner, an elderly Chinese, still lived in a flat above this shop.
With a local friend who spoke Indonesian and some Chinese (it amusingly turned out the old boy spoke fluent Dutch), I returned and did a deal with this gentleman for some Rolleiflex accessories. I got them at fair if not exactly bargain-basement prices and also bought a few photo books of prewar vintage, in Dutch, which somehow had survived the Japanese Occupation and are now in my photo archive.
The shop owner then produced two 1940s Rolleiflex Automats and a 1950s Rolleicord Va and offered them at what I thought were again fair if not cheap prices. Without really fine-checking the cameras, I gave him a deposit for them and (fortunately for me) got a receipt. I then went to a bank to cash a traveler's check (yes, those long ago TC days) for money to pay for my 'find'.
Back at the photo studio the crafty old seller informed me he had TRIPLED his prices on the cameras, ha! After an hour of negotiation I persuaded him, by politely but firmly insisting he'd already agreed on a lesser price and I'd paid a deposit, and by waving the receipt and a wad of rupiah notes in his face, to reduce his demand to about half. He then produced a small box with more TLR bits, mostly Yashica but also a 1930s 35mm Rolleikin kit in its original wrapping and box, a truly rare item.
I then carefully checked the three TLRs. The two 'flexes were malfunctioning and in need of extensive (and even then expensive) repair. The 'cord Va was jammed. The bodies were in reasonable condition, but the lenses, mirrors and WLF glass had fungus.
Realizing my so-called 'bargain' deal was in fact a dud, I made polite excuses and asked for my deposit, which unsurprisingly the now disappointed seller declined to refund. Insisting I had his receipt for this payment, I took the Rolleikin and a few filters from the box to cover my refund (which didn't please him but he didn't object) and we left.
(I still have the Rolleikin and I use it now and then on my Rolleiflex T, but this isn't really part of my story.)
For the next few days the receptionist at my hotel was bombarded by calls from this old Chinese seller, initially polite, then insistent, finally irate and menacing, his 'take' being I had 'swindled' him out of valuable items of great historic value and he could and would make trouble for me. All of which I ignored, tho at the suggestion of my local friend I contacted a local lawyer for advice.
At the time - it was during the Suharto regime - trying to take more than one camera out of Indonesia could have been regarded by customs as removing items of 'cultural value' from the country and if caught I would have been up for a stiff hit of duty and a fine, or (more likely) a demand for as much pocket money as the customs officer on duty at the airport thought he could get away with.
Fortunately, none of this happened. The small Rollei bits I'd bought went into my suitcase and eventually went safely out of Jakarta and back to Australia when I left Indonesia. I still have the books and the Rolleikin which I use now and then on my Rolleiflex T.
This saga was, for me, a lesson in what can happen in finding and buying 'bargains' in photo gear (old watches, stamps and coins, fountain pens, small statues, you name in) in Third World countries, where all that glitters can be fool's gold and the bureaucratic headaches of trying to get these items safely out can easily turn into nightmares. Not to overlook the hazards of buying items unseen and then having them shipped out, with consequently an entirely different but equally painful set of head pains.
