Leica IIIc Luftwaffen Eigentum - serial numbers list?

LeicaTom can contact James Lager for you, who will access the Leitz archives and look it up for you if it's anything rare or onususal. Leitz does not allow the use of their archives for just anyone, also out of privacy. Many cameras were delivered to their final users straight from the factory and the buyers name is recorded in the archives.

There is no list online anywhere and it can take weeks before you have an answer. If you need it fast, just check whether it's a wartime serial number and whether all characteristics add up, and take the plunge. Negotiate the seller down with the argument that the true wartime provenance is uncertain😉
 
Vobluda said:
Now I got it!
Anyone with the book who would be kind to verify one S/N for me?🙂
Click to expand...

unfortunately, even if the number is on the list
that does not settle it.

Scammers have been known to engrave blank top plates with the correct numbers - although that mostly happens with the ultra expensive Leicas - not a Luft

Stephen
 
Taking apart a camera won't prove anything except it's an original Leica and the internals are correct, the Military during WW2 did not , put any engravings inside the cameras, only the original factory serial number will verify if the cameras crate assembly is original.

I don't know ANYONE selling these cameras who will take a camera apart before they sell it too you, anyway collectors don't like to see cameras that have been broken open, repaired , we also don't really don't care if a camera works, I would rather have a WW2 camera with all original parts and inop as a camera that's been fully CLA'd and taken apart a few times, swapped curtains etc. etc.......it just isn't original anymore.

Thanks,

Tom Eitnier aka LeicaTom

P.S. I bought 4 Luftwaffen IIIC's and a W.H. Grey Paint IIIC K last month, so these cameras are STILL around!
 
Other than the history it bares, does the Luftwaffen Eigentum carry any mechanical differences or advantages over a civilian model?
 
axiom said:
Other than the history it bares, does the Luftwaffen Eigentum carry any mechanical differences or advantages over a civilian model?
Click to expand...

No.......just a handful of the IIIC K Extra Ball Bearing versions were adapted for cold weather use *and stamped LE* ,
(you can get the same treatment with a normal bearings camera if you use the right oils...... example the Arctic IIIFBD's from the 1950's).

Tom
 
Last spring I bought a chrome Lufttwaffen Eigentum IIIC that had been defaced. Only the "m" at the end of the "Lufttwaffen Eigentum" inscription remained readable. The FL number is still on the top plate.

I contacted Jim Lager and he confirmed that my camera was delivered to Berlin in December, 1940.

The camera was a bit of a mess - missing Vulcanite, gooey red curtains, and a lens mount flange that was rotated 90 degrees from where it should be! I suspect that someone had tried to repair the camera, gave up, and put the lens flange back in a hurry.

I sent the camera to DAG, who replaced the curtains with "like new" used red curtains, recovered the camera with material that is remarkably like the original Vulcanite, and did a CLA. The camera had already been worked on so I didn't feel bad about trying to restore it to a useful life.

The camera came with a 1939 Elmar. I haven't determined if that lens was original. I also received a grey case with a cut slice on top where the "Luftwaffen Eigentum" inscription would have been. It's a bit of a mystery to me why the case has the standard nose (vs. the flat nose) while the lens is an Elmar. Perhaps the case, lens, and body weren't originally together?

Anyway, that's my story about this camera.

Tom
 
tjh said:
Last spring I bought a chrome Lufttwaffen Eigentum IIIC that had been defaced. Only the "m" at the end of the "Lufttwaffen Eigentum" inscription remained readable. The FL number is still on the top plate.

I contacted Jim Lager and he confirmed that my camera was delivered to Berlin in December, 1940.

The camera was a bit of a mess - missing Vulcanite, gooey red curtains, and a lens mount flange that was rotated 90 degrees from where it should be! I suspect that someone had tried to repair the camera, gave up, and put the lens flange back in a hurry.

I sent the camera to DAG, who replaced the curtains with "like new" used red curtains, recovered the camera with material that is remarkably like the original Vulcanite, and did a CLA. The camera had already been worked on so I didn't feel bad about trying to restore it to a useful life.

The camera came with a 1939 Elmar. I haven't determined if that lens was original. I also received a grey case with a cut slice on top where the "Luftwaffen Eigentum" inscription would have been. It's a bit of a mystery to me why the case has the standard nose (vs. the flat nose) while the lens is an Elmar. Perhaps the case, lens, and body weren't originally together?

Anyway, that's my story about this camera.

Tom
Click to expand...

Hello Tom,

Yeah, Grey painted cases are 1942 onwards, the original 1940 LE case would have been brown.....

Most LE issues were Elmar 50's, where many also had extended "Summitar" nose cases while the Elmar with a FISON hood mounted on it, collapsed into the camera and stored with that kind of case.

Even *defaced* cameras have a collectors value now, in the past I've seen them get stupid money, especially if they are a grey painted camera, there's been a really nice amount of original undamaged gear lately on the market and prices of Luftwaffe cameras have actually COME DOWN, so now's a good time to buy if you have the $$$ to invest.


Tom
 
Tom (the other one) - Maybe I'll sell the grey LE (defaced) case, then, since it is not original to the camera. I need the space!

Tom
 
I was in Cologne two weeks ago and found a defaced Luftwaffen-eigentum camera in gray in a shop there. No 'K' shutter IIRC.

The vulcanite was peeling, the (also defaced) Summitar had it's aperture stuck.

They wanted EUR 2800 for it...😱 I passed. 😀
 
johannielscom said:
I was in Cologne two weeks ago and found a defaced Luftwaffen-eigentum camera in gray in a shop there. No 'K' shutter IIRC.

The vulcanite was peeling, the (also defaced) Summitar had it's aperture stuck.

They wanted EUR 2800 for it...😱 I passed. 😀
Click to expand...

gasp, cough, ..........
 
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