Why black out serial number?

[rxmd]

Hi,

I've seen a number of posts on RFF and other sites now with pictures of screw mount Leicas with their serial numbers blacked out or blurred. What's the point of that?

Do people want to avoid revealing their ownership of a particular camera? Or do people want to avoid giving fakers an authentic serial number? That seems pointless, since (a) there's plenty of authentic camera pictures with non-blurred serial numbers on the Web already, (b) all sources for verifying serial numbers are accessible to fakers as well, and (c) if a camera has been shown on the Web to be in the possession of somebody else, it would actually be easier to identify a fake as a fake. Or is there some other reason that I'm not aware of?

Philipp

 

[JohanV]

Someone might claim thet you have their stolen camera in your posession...

 

[rxmd]

Someone might claim thet you have their stolen camera in your posession...

I don't see the problem with that. A claim means nothing by itself. If they can prove that this is indeed their stolen camera, then you are indeed in the possession of stolen goods. If they can't you have nothing to fear.

Since you can never claim ownership of stolen goods, a camera that was stolen from somebody else will never be yours anyway, regardless of whether you reveal the serial number or not. It's just that it's easier for others to prove their legitimate claims. At any rate if you buy a camera that turns out to be stolen, you can get the money back from whoever you bought it from (by lawsuit if necessary), and so can they, and so on. Being in the possession of stolen goods should be undesirable for any self-respecting collector anyway.

If you have reason to assume that the camera might belong to someone else, investigating the actual ownership would seem to make more sense than claiming ownership and then hiding the particular details of your ownership. If that's the sole motivation, it seems like a partial admission of the possibility of an ownership problem to me.

Philipp

 

[Roger Hicks]

Like Philipp, I have never really understood this, though I should add that prior to the Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1994 it was actually possible in the UK to acquire good title to stolen goods IF they were bought (a) in good faith (b) at a market overt (itself quite a complex definition) and (c) without notice of defect or want of title by the seller (deeply unlikely, when you think about it).

But generally, it's either paranoia (otherwise quite unknown on the internet) or because it refers to a serial number within a certain range: for example, 310 000 xxx is an M8 and not an MP.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[rolleistef]

It's more often seen with extremely rare s-m Leicas, especially military ones/IIIC-K, because it's quite easy to falsify the serial number, turn an usual IIIC into a kugellager/kaltenfest and sell it for a lot of money...

 

[rxmd]

I still don't see the advantage of a blacked-out number; the sources for verifying whether a serial number belongs a genuine "K" are available to a faker as well, and there are plenty of "K" serial numbers already out in the wild.

 

[Ken Ford]

For privacy.

 

[payasam]

Glad you asked the question, Philipp. Sad that there's no convincing answer.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Maybe a little off the topic but if the serial number of the stolen item is given to the Police Department taking the report then there legal documentation of the theft. If the item appears on ebay (some departments actually check numbers on ebay) then there can be a prosecution. If you know the item is stolen or have suspicion that it is avoid buying the item as you can not possess stolen goods. And, if that item is ever traced by a police department then they return the item to the rightful owner without compensation to the purchaser. As far as getting your money back from the seller and I have never heard that happening unless the seller was duped by someone else & is reselling the item.

 

[Turtle]

For privacy.

But privacy for/of what? I am not in a physical relationship with my Leica kit so I don't mind anyone knowing ther ser numbers 😉 (also all owned from new thus far so no stolen issues possible)

 

[Axel]

There may be various reasons why people black out informations in web-published pictures.
And there may be millions of possibilities what other people around the world will do with, for example, the serialnumber of one of my cameras.
I simply don´t want to care about this. Thats my privacy.

Regards, Axel

 

[Turtle]

I would bet that there is a disproportionate interest in hiding serial numbers for Leica kit though. I would not be surprised it it in part is related to 'others must be doing it for a reason so I must too'. some have their reasons, but it is a camera...so there is surely not that much others can do with your serial number? I could photoshot any serial number I want onto a photo and sell a fictitious camera on ebay. I can understand the theft/claims issue but for everything else it seems pretty tenuous. When was the last time you heard of a serial number issue unrelated to theft) biting the owner - I would be interested to hear of any genius scams in this regard.

 

[anoldsock]

I do it cause other people were doing it...but it's a good question. I've wondered this myself at times.