what does the "DBP" and "GMBH" mean on my Leica M3?

I know what GmBH is:
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (company with limited liability)
don't know for DBP
 
Deutsches Bundespatent

(the earlier DRP was Deutsches Reichspatent and yes, that engraving style did last for almost 10 years after the Third Reich!)
 
DBP = Deutsches Bundespatent (German federal patent)

GmbH = Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (company with limited liability, equivalent to a corporation; used as "Inc." is in English)
 
Oh, and "M3"means Messersucher (measuring viewfinder) with 3 frames. Obviously this rule doesn't work for the M2 which also has three frames, but that was regarded as a budget model in the same vein as the Leica III and II.
 
rogerzilla said:
Oh, and "M3"means Messersucher (measuring viewfinder) with 3 frames.
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LOL!! :D You made my day! :)

Yes, it's supposed, that the M stands for "Meßsucher". But "Messersucher" would mean something like knife-finder. Or even better stands for somebody who is searching for a knife.....:rolleyes:
 
Thanks! Going a little far afield here, but I often wondered how Ihagee/Exakta remained a private company and didn't get absorbed into VEB Pentacon after the War? Is it because they were Dutch-owned?
 
Yes, but I don't think that happened until about 1968 (sorry, guess I should have clarified in my last post!). I was wondering why they didn't become part of it much sooner, as other companies did.
 
Vince Lupo said:
Yes, but I don't think that happened until about 1968 (sorry, guess I should have clarified in my last post!). I was wondering why they didn't become part of it much sooner, as other companies did.
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Ihagee was Dutch-owned. The GDR did not nationalize foreign corporations for a long time - their main argument for seizing German corporations was their support for the Nazi regime and involvement in slave labour, and Ihagee (only restituted to the owners in 45) was a victim, if any...
 
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Ihagee (spelled out from the German pronounciation for IHG=Industrie und Handelsgesellschaft) was founded by the Dutch Johan Steenbergen, but he founded the company in Dresden, before the war. After the war Dresden became part of Eastern Germany...

read: http://www.ihagee.org/ihgshorthist.htm
 
Hmm.. very interesting. Great cameras, and I was fortunate to have visited Dresden a few years ago and brought my Exakta II. Would love to go back!
 
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