Leica engraving mistakes

[colyn]

If there is something that makes it "collectible", it would be a "mistake" like this.

I think you should put it up on eBoy with a starting bid price of $10,000.

There is no telling what a professional collector would pay! Merry Christmas.

😀

I'd want at least 100 G's....😀 😀 10 just doesn't cut it....😱

 

[icebear]

Maybe it was engraved by a Russion POW in the Leica factory in Wetzlar - looks pretty Russian to me 😎.

 

[johannielscom]

M3 with error engravings

M3 with error engravings

Hi all, for some time now there has an M3 with M2 engravings been listed on the great auction site, here.

The camera is genuine, as it comes with a number of Leitz documents ensuring authenticity.

Seems no black M3 collector is interested though, since it's been around for quite some time now on the auction site.

Only goes to show, Leica did make mistakes, even quite large ones like this...

 

[dll927]

As long as somebody is sure it's really an M3!!

There have been occasional stories of postage stamps being misprinted before somebody discovered the mistakes. In at least a couple of cases, it made the misprinted ones go sky-high in price for collectors. Probably nowdays they would just print a few million more of the "mistakes" to prevent that from happening.

But M2s and M3s were made at the same time, so it figures one of two might have been mislabeled --- or mis-engraved.

 

[trevor432990]

Thought I'd add my story to this thread as it looks like I have a Leica with the most engraving mistakes in the World ! At the last count it has been pointed out by some of the resident experts that my camera has at least 6 engraving errors as follows :-

• No dot above the 'i' in Leica logo
• The tail of the 'L' looks strange in Leica logo
• The tail of 'a' extends too far in Leica logo
• The 'D' in D.R.P. is too fat and doesn't narrow towards top
• The 'E' in Ernst has a middle line too central
• The line under the 'o' in 'No' is replaced by a dot
  
  Thanks to Erik van Straten, HuubL, Ron (Netherlands) for spotting these mistakes but confirming it looks like a genuine Leica despite these anomalies but now I don't know whether to be horrified or delighted my camera has these unusual differences. What is your opinion?
  
  
  

P.S. If you check the last two photos carefully you will see there are guide markers for the line positions which have been ignored by the engraver

Trevor

 

[wolves3012]

A quick google search for leica iiic images appears to show that most do not have 'Germany' engraved, such as this one sold by kevincameras.

http://kevincameras.com/gallery/album899/leica_3c_373895_2

Or this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Leica-IIIc-R...hash=item290275324723&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

Mine does have "Germany". Typical, I get a "regular" one of no special value 😀

 

[wolves3012]

I'm wondering if Leica bodies, lens, etc that have engraving mistakes are really considered more valuable than a properly engraved version.

I just saw a Elmar 9cm on eBay that is engraved "Elma" and the seller is asking more than the usual going price for its condition..

Below is my IIIc which is engraved "Gern" instead of "Germany"

They seem to have mucked up the serial number too - it ends in XXX 😀

Sorry, couldn't help myself...

 

[JayM]

My button rewind M2 had a slanty serial number!

 

[dogberryjr]

Ich habe es auch gern.

 

[Kent]

Does your cam work?
Then you should be delighted.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

The next time I read about poor quality control in ex-USSR cameras I'll point out this thread; it's strange that these mistakes raise the value of the cameras. The opposite happens with the USSR made ones.

But really it's all about QC, isn't it? And the strange way we bring prejudice into the reasoning...

Regards, David