Value of Prototype SL and M3b (given by Ernst Leitz)

[dj_soroka]

Sorry for the wrong e-mail address of the previous post.

 

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An acquaintance of mine is still distraught over a theft that occurred twelve years ago when his apartment was broken into. Although he used the items, he said he was not aware of the items "value."

 

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His father had been a Vice President for Leica for many years, and had given him one of three (according to his Dad) prototype Leica SL's as well as a Leica M3b which Ernst Leitz had reportedly given his Dad many years earlier.

 

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Anyway, he is not into cameras today. But he still wonders what those items might have been worth?

 

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Also, if there are any suggestions for tracing what might have become of these items.

[eliot]

To my knowldege, there is no such thing as an "M3b". I', not sure to

what you are referring, an M3?

[roger_michel]

the leica m3b is from the company's venerable scientific instrument

line, a stereo microscope to be exact. in some versions, it is

equipped with an integral camera for microphotography. used, the m3b

sells for about $1000. the prototype SL is anybody's guess. it is

not a popular model, but leica rarities are always desirable. if it

had unusual markings and different features from a production SL, my

(wild) guess is that it mite be worth up to $2000-$4000. if

identical to the production model with simply a very low serial

number, the figure would be far less. check christies sales archives

(south kensington) to get an idea of what leica prototypes go for.

that's where i just looked.

[hoyin_lee1]

Soroka, I'm sorry for your friend's loss; if he has filed a police

report detailing the stolen equipment and serial numbers, there may

be a chance of recovering the items if they turn up in an auction.

 

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</p>Speaking of lost prototype cameras, I read somewhere about the

story of the prototype Contax SLR. It goes something like this: in

1936, Zeiss Ikon formed a team to develop a 35mm SLR camera, and in

1940, a prototype was built in great secrecy based on the Contax II

rangefinder body, but with a bulit-in eye-level prism that gave a

upright and left-right reversed image in the viewfinder. The

developement was halted during the war as Zeiss had other production

priorities. The prototype was subsequently lost in the chaos as

Dresden was invaded by the Red Army. Soon after the war, as the

story goes, a Russian officer turned up at the Zeiss factory in what

had became the East-German city of Dresden with a request to repair a

peculiar camera that featured the Zeiss Ikon logo and a fixed

viewfinder prism. The service technician refused the repair thinking

that it was a privately converted camera. Later, when the factory

people heard about it, they realized that they missed the opportunity

of recovering their lost prototype Contax SLR. It wasn't until 1948

when Carl Zeiss Jena produced the Contax S, the world's first SLR

with a built-in viewfinder prism.

[dj_soroka]

My lack of Leica knowledge is showing.

 

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The camera given by Ernst Leitz was a IIIb, not a m3b.

 

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This is just due my ignorance of the Leica line.

 

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I'm sorry.

 

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However, thank you for the responses so far.

[roger_michel]

don't even get me started on contax prototypes. would i love to have

a IIb/iiib (recently discussed on this forum), at least i think

that's what they called the prototype for what would have been the

replacement for the iia/iiia. what a great camera line!!

[dj_soroka]

Thank you all, again, for your responses.

 

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From what I can gather, he will be pleased to know that the Prototype

SL, with a 90 mm and macro lens, as well as his IIIb and lens; appear

to have a value of perhaps $6000. I feared it might have been much

worse because of the prototype nature of the SL and the provenance

(Leitz) of the IIIb.