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Leica IIIa with inlaid swastika - can this be authentic?


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IDK who might have done that when and why. - Maybe during the 70s or similar when it was cool to flash a bit of Nazi stuff in the (non-German!) Rocker scene? - As much as I like my M's, I'd rather be toting a FED with inlaid Lenin. Stock up with gaffer tape before you dare to travel the world randomly with that camera. Over here they'll happily fine you about half a month's wage for flashing the Swastica.

Anyhow: To me it looks like a private project. - I can't tell if it was done by (or for) a politically mislead local or some foreigner, for which reason ever. - That ebay seller looks like a camera store to me, so maybe they are describing and rating properly and it is indeed barely used and in decent condition?

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Show me a camera made in India, like the Ace Sure-Flex 620 with a swastika, I'll applaud.

 

You also said "Nothing with a swastika is decent in any sense of the word," so I introduced you to other cultures that have MANY items with swastikas. If you meant just cameras, you shouldn't have said "nothing."

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Vincent and William, I thought that the hindu swastika could either rotate clockwise or anticlockwise (each meant different things, I think). A rather ancient symbol, with a long history. I think that I would be very hesitant to pay the asking price for this item, even if it were functional. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)
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...I thought that the hindu swastika could either rotate clockwise or anticlockwise (each meant different things, I think)...

 

That's right. Exactly what the difference is, I'm not sure, but the clockwise swastika is a very positive symbol. The counterclockwise one is supposed to be somewhat negative, though in my quick search I couldn't find out what connotations it might have.

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I will weigh in with my 2 cents. Most after market modifications should not increase the value generally. Provenance is more important than modification. I do not understand why that emblem on a Leica (when the family that owned Leica were anti-Nazi and one member of the family went to jail for that reason) would increase the value. Camerawest is a reputable seller, but personally, I would avoid that item.
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For once it's a real Leica, though whether the badge is contemporary with the camera is anyone's guess. This one has a vaguely similar decoration, though it also has German navy engravings:

 

Leica II Kriegsmarine

 

But as Steve says, provenance is everything for collectors of such things. It could easily be an upmarket counterpart of those doctored FEDs. Either way, I suspect it will end up somewhere like this:

 

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