Other/Uncategorized Leica fake of the day

[LeicaTom]

Tom, if you ever get bored and feel like doing an extensive writeup on what you know about the wartime cameras I am sure nobody would mind. 🙂

Well, see Jim Lager is the # one expert on these "wartime" cameras in he world

He`s written some great books on the subject, covering all the cameras and various versions from all the German Army groups of WW2 (AirForce/Army/Navy)

I`m mostly interested and what the US Army did with the Leica AFTER 1945
and I do plan on writing a book about it in the near future - so please stay tuned!

Tom

 

[cmedin]

Sweet. 🙂 By the way, you didn't use to hang out on #photography IRC did you?

 

[Rob-F]

Tom: Okay, as I understand it, you sorted out the truth by researching the individual serial number with Jim, and with the factory. It would not have occurred to me to do that! Is there anything about this camera that would I.D. it as a fake, apart from the phoney serial number? Are there really fakes that are so good that there is nothing to spot?

 

[LeicaTom]

Sweet. 🙂 By the way, you didn't use to hang out on #photography IRC did you?

Nope!

I used top post Leica historical stuff over at Photo.net but then it got too political

I LOVE this website! It`s worse than drugs and eben better now then My Space used to be with all my crazy models, here I can talk shop about the stuff I love and how much fun it is shooting with this old stuff that only mad collectors have..........I like to prove them wrong, the`re JUST cameras , that were made to do one great thing - TAKE PICTURES! 🙂

Meet me over at my "Half Race" restoration thread - we can continue there, I`m sure everybody`s tired of us gabbing over here.........

Tom

 

[LeicaTom]

Tom: Okay, as I understand it, you sorted out the truth by researching the individual serial number with Jim, and with the factory. It would not have occurred to me to do that! Is there anything about this camera that would I.D. it as a fake, apart from the phoney serial number? Are there really fakes that are so good that there is nothing to spot?

Well, Rob write me off the board and I`ll give you some tips, if you really want to be krazy and enter the world of the "kugellager" Leica`s............😱

Tom

 

[LeicaTom]

Now somebody go find another Russian fake to post on here......ok?

Tom

 

[cmedin]

Now somebody go find another Russian fake to post on here......ok?

Tom

I dunno man, they're pretty rare... 😉

 

[LeicaTom]

opps! mispost

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Now somebody go find another Russian fake to post on here......ok?

Tom

Ok, this one seems to be another, look carefully at the lettering of the lens

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320167603020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

 

[wolves3012]

Ok, this one seems to be another, look carefully at the lettering of the lens

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320167603020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

I'm no expert on Leica, lenses especially, but I'd be pretty confident the body is Leica. The lens would fool me if it's not Leica - what makes you suspicious?

 

[rxmd]

Ok, this one seems to be another, look carefully at the lettering of the lens

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320167603020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

The camera body at least appears to be genuine, judging by the rangefinder arm and the L-shaped viewfinder window. What's wrong with the lens in your opinion? The weird "t" in "Leitz" or something else?

Philipp

 

[dee]

i am gonna stick to my honest Fed ? Zorki '' Leica '' pretenders ! I would not know where to start with real or imagined wartime real leicas !Moscowphoto has a lovely ''reimagined '' Zorki in black and new chrome , lovely camera - i have the Leica badged eqivalent , and they are perhaps , the best made of the restorations .
... and i have lovely restored Fed 1 / 2b and Zorki 1 / / S / 2S Zenit S , from altai .

i am fascinated by the info in this forum - talk about addictive !

dee

 

[LeicaTom]

Ok, this one seems to be another, look carefully at the lettering of the lens

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320167603020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

No Ron, I think that`s all Leica 🙂 and a matter of fact a rarer Leica.....very late 1935 BLACK PAINT camera from a batch of 100 ordered according to the CQ list


Tom

 

[LeicaTom]

Now these two are not FAKE as it comes to the LEICA part, these are BOTH ONCE real Leica IIIF`s

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-IIIF-Black-Dial-GOLD-PLATED-OUTFIT_W0QQitemZ140165316023QQihZ004QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-IIIF-Red-Dial-GOLD-PLATED-OUTFIT_W0QQitemZ140165032133QQihZ004QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They have some SERIOUS effort gone into the plating and finishing here....but I wonder if the gold will turn green with time, or wear off in your hand?

Tom

......Now if I could only find someone trustworthy in the Eastern Bloc to do real vulcanite jobs for $50 😉

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

I agree on the body, I just had doubt with regard to the lens.
I note though that this body does not have the round part on the back.

 

[MichaelHarris]

Now these two are not FAKE as it comes to the LEICA part, these are BOTH ONCE real Leica IIIF`s

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-IIIF-Black-Dial-GOLD-PLATED-OUTFIT_W0QQitemZ140165316023QQihZ004QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-IIIF-Red-Dial-GOLD-PLATED-OUTFIT_W0QQitemZ140165032133QQihZ004QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They have some SERIOUS effort gone into the plating and finishing here....but I wonder if the gold will turn green with time, or wear off in your hand?

Tom

......Now if I could only find someone trustworthy in the Eastern Bloc to do real vulcanite jobs for $50 😉

It's so shiny!

 

[Rob-F]

I have been asking myself who could possibly have the tooling to produce a copy as convincing as the IIIc K Tom posted a picture of, above. A copy so good that there's no clue, no way to spot that it is a fake.

I may be slow, and this may be already obvious, but: It must be that they simply started with a real IIIc, stripped and repainted it, and engraved the "K".

No?

 

[LeicaTom]

I have been asking myself who could possibly have the tooling to produce a copy as convincing as the IIIc K Tom posted a picture of, above. A copy so good that there's no clue, no way to spot that it is a fake.

I may be slow, and this may be already obvious, but: It must be that they simply started with a real IIIc, stripped and repainted it, and engraved the "K".

No?

Yes, any post May 1945 would do for a start.........then it`s stripped down reengraved and painted and then chemically aged, the ONLY way to tell is to crack the camera open and look for the ball bearings and if not then it`s a
"Half Race" that someone painted.....

Ohh and collectors "freak out" if they see a camera like a real "Grey" IIIC K was opened once, I say it`s JUST a camera, that`s one reason why I`m no longer a collector and now a historian, which entails that I get cameras CLA`d and repaired if they are old and broken down and bad looking......It`s not destroying history but actually helping it live on in a real working camera....but that`s a subject for a whole other thread, now is`nt it?

I recently found another camera on ebay that was made from a real camera, engraved and painted black - supposed to be a factory internal camera, but it turned out to be a 100% fake (verified by a German Historian) and that they are asking $2,500 for when it`s worth maybe like $300 is a joke and well sad for the unsuspecting buyer who has money like that to throw at collectable cameras

I say with ANY engraved Leica`s be WARNED!

If they cannot be verified by someone who`s an expert, like Jim Lager then keep away.......there`s a few "real" cameras left out there, it just takes time and it`s a "real" challenge to find them

Tom

 

[Rob-F]

I must say, this thread has been a valuable learning experience. It's proof of the worth of the RFF and those who contribute! Thanks, Tom.