Fake Leica camera worth anything?

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by kamekaze

No pictures yet, but the top of the camera reads "Leica", "Ernst Leitz Wetzlar", "D.R.P.", "No.210513".

That serial number is for a 1936 Leica I



But anyone can engrave a serial number...

DPR is for Deutsches Reichspatent (pre-1945)

It will be very interesting to see just what it is.

[kamekaze]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

That serial number is for a 1936 Leica I



But anyone can engrave a serial number...

DPR is for Deutsches Reichspatent (pre-1945)

It will be very interesting to see just what it is.

I'll see if I can drive over there and get some pictures today. Any idea on hat this camera would be worth if real? Or if its a good fake?

[johnastovall]

If it's real depends on condition, with cameras condition is everything.

Get a picture of the front of the camera so we can see the rangefinder windows those can help determain if it is a FED. I have a hard time thinking anyone would try to fake a Leica I which is a non-rangefinder.

[venchka]

If it does have a rangefinder and a very early serial number it's a dead give away fake. I haven't checked prices lately, but I doubt that the best FED cameras are worth $100. Probably a lot less. The chances of getting a "best" FED are probably slim & none. But, you never know until you hold it, use it, run film through it.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by venchka

If it does have a rangefinder and a very early serial number it's a dead give away fake. I haven't checked prices lately, but I doubt that the best FED cameras are worth $100. Probably a lot less. The chances of getting a "best" FED are probably slim & none. But, you never know until you hold it, use it, run film through it.

High quality FED's go between 100-200 dollars. I don't understand why you are so down on FED's. My NKVD 1937 FED is a nice little camera.

Check out FED prices here.

Besides FED are cheap to have fixed.

[kamekaze]

Fed 2's sell on ebay for between 20 and 40 bucks usually.

[wclavey]

There is a fair difference in price between user FEDs and the fake Leicas... if you go to ebay and simply search for "Leica Copy" you will get 255 results, ranging in price from about $129 to $3000 for the admitted copies - - these are not people trying to trick you into thinking they are real Leicas... you can find them there too, but not listed as "Leica copies"

[venchka]

I'm not down on FEDs. But $100-$200 isn't exactly the high priced flavor is it? I have no direct experience, but the former Soviet Union lenses seem to be more suspect and difficult to make right than the camera bodies.

Buyer beware. Canon, Nikon, Voigtlander, Leica, etc. command higher prices ofr a reason. They work.

[wclavey]

Originally Posted by venchka

If it does have a rangefinder and a very early serial number it's a dead give away fake. I haven't checked prices lately, but I doubt that the best FED cameras are worth $100. Probably a lot less. The chances of getting a "best" FED are probably slim & none. But, you never know until you hold it, use it, run film through it.

Of course it is a fake - - we know that going in. The market in Leica fakes is not because someone wants a FED in good shape to use. Many times, the faked cameras may not even operate. They are not supposed to be used. I suppose that there might be fakers who do CLAs on them, but the skill investment is in the faking - - not in the working mechanism.

If someone wants to buy a Fed that is in good shape, there are several websites and services available that accumulate FEDs, Zorkis, etc., pick out the good ones and sell them with full disclosure. There is even a website where the guy will CLA it before he sends it and will match it with an appropriate cleaned FSU lens (based on the type of lens you want). But these are not Leica fakes - - they are good condition FSU cameras.

The objective of the fakes is to fake the Leica, not make a camera that is in good user condition. They range from crappy fakes, to outlandish fakes (gold with lizard skin) to good fakes, where only very close inspection of the body gives it away - - but the inside is still a FED or Zorki and there is a high likelihood that it doesn't work.

[venchka]

A market for FSU FED based fake Leicas. Go figure.