Outbid and glad of it

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graywolf

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I made a lowball bid on a poorly listed Super Ikonta IV on eBay. The guy had no sales in his feedback, but I am willing to give new sellers a chance. However, after I bid, I noticed all the buys were at least 4 years ago. That often is a sign of a highjacked account. So I was glad to notice that someone outbid me. I do like bargains, but I also can not afford to just toss away money.

On the other hand, I hope whoever wins that auction is luckier than I feel.
 
Hah, I bid on it too. Given the incorrect description, single picture and total lack of details, I wouldn't have gone higher than my bid of $115 anyway.

I started placing my bid at 30 seconds, when it was at 76$. I wasn't surprised that someone had already outbid me by the time I placed it but there was no way I expected it to end up at $330.
 
The other odd thing about the camera was the Ziess logo on the right side of the body. I'd only seen that on IIIs. Did they either convert IIIs to IVs? Or is it more likely that someone pieced the camera together later?
 
Sounds like you lucked out. These cameras come up relatively often, but if it were me I'd look for a III. The shutter/aperture interlock on the IV models is a royal PITA. I finally had John over at Focal Point remove that dubious feature so that it functioned like a III.

Try making an offer on this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fine-Zeiss-Supe...750047401?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item3365ba68a9

These are easy cameras to fix (unless the double exposure isn't working, and even then it's probably not that hard a fix) and handle beautifully. My favorite folder to shoot, but the lens isn't up to the same IQ standards as the Voigtlander Heliar models.
 
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Well, don't feel too bad guys. I did send the guy a question, "Can you give me details on the condition of this camera"?

And he replied: "[FONT=arial,sans-serif]The Super Iconta was a well built camera in it's day which is proven by the terrific condition this one is in after 50 years with the original owner.[/FONT]"

That is when I got really worried.[FONT=arial,sans-serif][/FONT]Does he even have the camera? The only positive I could see is that he does not have 8 other high end cameras listed.

As for my post driving the price up, I did not post a link, and "super ikonta iv" would not have found the listing. However, I did want to give anyone who already knew about it, a chance to think twice before bidding. But, since there was a complaint, I will not do so in the future.[FONT=arial,sans-serif]
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Given his terrible spelling of the camera, I'm guessing the listing was valid - it would take a clever scammer to spell it Super Iconia, knowing that people would recognize it from the photo.

I'm guessing the seller was just selling assorted attic/estate sales find or something.
 
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