Is $104,000 a bit excessive for an Leica MP-36

[mto'brien]

A "waste of money" is a very specific thing, take the following example: You want to buy a drink. You see in front of you two drink machines. The first drink machine takes one currency unit (dollar, euro, loonie, etc), and the second takes 0.5 units. If you put your currency into the first machine, you just wasted 0.5 units. If you did not want the drink, then you wasted one unit.

In economic terms your want/need/enjoyment of the drink is called utility, and assuming you want the drink then it is the same regardless of the price. It applies equally to Ferraris, 100k cameras, expensive shoes, etc. If you want/need/enjoy the item then it has some utility for you. If you have one currency unit and two choices of what to spend it on, then your choice is the one that has more utility to you. If you decide to save it, then the security and interest you gain have more utility to you than the object you would have bought.

Back on topic. If I had the 100k, then I would buy a brand new MP and couple of lenses, and spend the rest on traveling around and using it until it is as brassed as the one in the gizmodo article. I would get a lot more utility out of my 100k that way. A collector may feel differently.

Cheers,
Rob

interesting, but, the example you give supposes there are two equal MPs for sale, one 2x the price of the other. there are a certain amount of super rich nutjobs that would buy the more expensive of the two just for bragging rights. bragging rights are important to these people (utility), therefore not a waste of money.

anyone remember the $1000 iphone app? it was an app that did absolutely nothing except let people know you were rich enough to buy it. it didn't last too long in the app store, but it was targeted at the nutjob rich. unsure if any sold. but such items are sold all the time to people in search of the ultimate status symbol.

if i were a billionaire, i could probably put $104,000 in my nightstand and forget it was there.

 

[jljohn]

Not to sound stupid here (I quite understand the arguments that have been made), but isn't it premature to call this purchase either excessive or a waste of money? This purchase was clearly not made to take the camera out and use it. It was made as an investment, and saying that it is an investment does not undermine the pride of ownership the collector has while owning said camera. If the purchaser believed he would not recoup his money someday, I highly doubt he would have bought the MP at 100k+. In this way, this purchase is no different than the $100k any person on this forum might have in a retirement fund that is invested in stocks, bonds, and other assets. If this camera resells at auction in ten years for 150k, who are we to call it a waste or excessive?

Another way to think of it is that many of us willingly pay $1,500 for a 50mm summilux, or $2,000 for an M7 believing that when we sell it, we will have actually profited a little. Similarly, many of us purchase common stock in run-of-the-mill companies hoping that money will appreciate. Buying shares in Berkshire Hathaway is no more excessive than than picking up an original MP--it is the same type of investment but on a grander scale.

 

[Ronny]

The Camera was sold for ca 54.000 USD, March 2010, in Sweden.
(LP Foto Stockholm).
Now 10 months later Ebay 104.000 USD = +50.000 USD in less than a year!

 

[berlincontemporary]

surprisingly many people use the phrase 'waste of money' as a euphemism for 'I can't afford it'.

Spending 100.000$ on a "thing" just to "own" it... What else is a waste of money?

 

[David Hughes]

Exactly and my old M2 takes the same sort of pictures and probably a lot more of them as I don't keep it in a safe. So spending that much is a waste of money. Like buying a new car when a two year old will be half the price.

Regards, David

 

[kevin m]

What's that French saying, "The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his ass?" Wanting nice things is fine, within certain arguable limits. I'd saying owning a $100k camera that you'll never use could possibly indicate that the maximum tax-rate in whatever country you call home isn't quite high enough.

 

[Brian Legge]

If we walk to be trite, aren't all collections a waste of time? And almost all art by that implication? And thus time spent making art?

Turtles all the way down.

 

[DNG]

It's only excessive if you are not willing to pay that much.
An Item is worth what a person is willing to pay for it.
Which is influenced by funds, desires, and availability, or the rare lack of availability in this case, MP-36. Don't know if is this is from a limited edition, or it is THE 36th MP made when it was first put on sale.

 

[njos]

$100.000, maybe they just get their dream ?
or they are thinking this is not collector camera , but user condition..
so if they jump into street no one notice that is $100.000 camera..

rather than M9 on the street..