IIIf RDST Midland value?

[n5jrn]

I think I might have won the Leica lottery on a recent purchase, which I made to get a camera to use, not to put on a shelf and look at. Then again, maybe not -- but posting here is the first step to finding out if I have. As much as I have disdain for the concept of putting cameras on shelves and not using them, if I can turn a healthy profit by flipping my current camera and using the proceeds to get even more user-grade photo equipment, why not?

I have a Leica IIIf RDST, serial number 773899. Stephen Gandy's list indicates that this means it was assembled in Canada, despite the chrome saying "Ernst Leitz GMBH Wetzlar".

It is not pristine; there is a shallow 2mm ding on the top edge of the chrome near the speed dial, and the Vulcanite was chipped in two places (and I used Liquid Electrical Tape to repair the chips, not wanting them to spread further). (Something tells me that if it's lusted after by collectors, I probably knocked a lot off its value by doing that, but I didn't know the significance of the serial number at the time.)

I purchased it for $420. Is it really probably worth something like 5 or 10 times this value, despite what I've done to it?

 

[Nikon Bob]

In order to get top buck for an item collectors want pristine in the box condition and prices rapidly decrease from there as condition degrades.

Bob

 

[Glenn2]

I don't think the price you paid is too far off, assembled in Canada doesn't seem to add any great value. I bought a very clean 3f RDST a couple years ago to replace one I stupidly sold, and missed. Price was $275 but it needed a CLA as the slow speeds didn't work at all. With CLA it ended up costing about what you paid.

Glenn

 

[Vickko]

Sorry, it is worth what you paid.

Now, if the engraving were "Midland Ontario", then it would be worth a LOT more. They do exist and are very very rare.

Vick

 

[250swb]

A batch of one thousand cameras made in Canada that year doesn't make it a rare camera.

Steve

 

[besk]

My IIIf RD also was assembled in Midland according to the seriel #. IF I ever sell it hopefully it will cause more interest because of where it was assembled.

 

[n5jrn]

Thanks, all. Now I don't have to worry that the next scuff or ding it acquires (which it eventually will, being a user camera) is going to take hundreds or thousands off its resale value.

(It was CLA'ed prior to the sale, which is the reason I happily paid $420 for it instead of $275 or so.)

 

[Vickko]

The collector market is a fickle thing. Legend has it that when ELC cameras were first sold, with the Midland engraving, buyers returned them and demanded their money back, claiming that they were inferior.

Leica Canada resolved the issue by using top covers engraved "Ernst Leitz Wetzlar" even for their Canadian cameras. The M2 and M3 have larger fonts for the designation to identify the Canadian cameras.

For the majority of IIIg and IIIf cameras made in Midland, they are not identified and only tracked by serial number.

...Vick

 

[sparrow6224]

The IIIf is one of the greatest cameras of all time. Use it. Enjoy it. Get a good universal VF for it (I love my Nikon: it's small and very clear and leaves the camera only when I have to use a 28 or a 21).

 

[ray*j*gun]

Agree with sparrow, the Barnacks are wonderful machines and should be used. Still the best combo of size and quality out there.

 

[raydm6]

Just bumping this: found this 2018 article interesting. https://filmphotograph.com/leica-iii...nd-outfit-1953

Same serial no. sold at auction 2014: