Leica

I recently found a Leica camera here and I was wondering if it's real or fake. I have no idea about this kind of brand so please help me. Also I am planning on selling it can you have a price appraisal?

 

 

 

You obviously haven't read the rules of this forum....we can't authenticate an item nor can we provide a valuation. Let me explain why that is. Without personally examining an item and looking for certain markers, it is impossible in many cases to state with any degree of certainty that an item is genuine or fake. Some fakes are obvious, but without seeing the interior of the camera and/or lens, examining the metal of the body, and its mechanisms, it often is really tough. Your best bet is to take it to a Leica dealer for authentication. It is nice that you have customs papers, but that doesn't show provenance, which contributes to part of the valuation. The difficulty in providing a valuation starts with whether an item is real or not, but even if it is real, there are potential legal issues and liability in providing a valuation. Your best bet is to have a knowledgible person look it over, determine its authenticity, its functionality (ie does it work as it should or does it need to be serviced), whether all parts are original or if some have been replaced over the years, and tell you exactly what year it was manufactured and model it is (ie has it been factory updated or is everything original, and what condition it is). Then you can go to a source, like Ebay and look at completed sales of similar cameras and lenses, read their cosmetic and functional condition and see what prices people were willing to pay. An alternative, depending on where you live, is to ask a specialty auction house, like Westlich, which specializes in Leica gear, if they are interested in valuing or selling it for you. Lastly, you could merely put it up for sale on the big Ebay auction site describing it as best as you can, listing it in auction style, with lots of well taken detailed photographs, and the market will determine its price for you.

Helpful link?

No clue about pricing, sorry.

Post this on the Leica Forum and you might get some better information.

It's been a few months and maybe you have found your answer already, but just in case.

 

Looks authentic to me, but I'm not an expert. Looks like a 3f. One thing we non experts can do is to look for pictures of the various zorkis and feds. Often when people do counterfeits they don't really change the structure of the camera much, so it's often easy to spot. So at least this isn't an obvious fake. Also the IIIf isn't the most desireable Leica body, though it's one of the most common and it's quite a decent user camera if you can handle the tiny windows. Many of the fakes dress themselves up as special editions with leather or wood bodies (in styles Leica never made). The leica and rangefinders forum is a good bet to get more info. But the better, clearer pictures you post, the more accurate your responses will be. The above pictures are blurry enough that you can't really see inside the wind knob windows. Here are some pictures of my IIIf for comparison. Hopefully it will help. Good luck.

 

 

 

 

Many of the fakes dress themselves up as special editions with leather or wood bodies (in styles Leica never made).

For a real giggle, see Russian Fake Leicas