Expert: David Silver - 6/8/2006

Question
I got a camera out of $5 box-o-junk at an auction.  sn. 829786, seems to work but havn't tried it yet.

It's a Leica DBP, Ernst Leitz (GMBH) Wetzlar Ger. When I ran the sn. it came up as a IIIF ELC 1956 one of 100 made.  Has the red numbers on top and timer on front with original case and seems to be in amazing shape.  
Do I have something special?  Or there was only a 100 made cause it's a piece of junk?
Can't find a website that specifically tells me.

Answer
Hello Al,

You've misinterpretted whatever information you found on the internet...

First of all, yes, according to the serial number, you have a Leica IIIf (red dial version with self timer) made by Leitz of Germany in 1956.

Secondly, although this is a very fine (and still somewhat desirable) 35mm camera, it is not something particularly "special".  Over 180,000 total Leica IIIf cameras were sold from 1950 to 1957 (in three slightly different versions).  A small number of these were made in the Canadian Leitz factory during that time, about 7200, and that's obviously a LOT more than just 100!  A very few of them are actually marked Canada, but otherwise they are all the same no matter where they were made.

Thirdly, you must have matched the serial number to a batch count rather than total count.  I have extensive production records from Leitz.  They produced three batches of the Leica IIIf model in 1956.  The first batch of 367 were serial numbers 823501 to 823867.  The second batch of 100 (from which your camera comes) were numbers 829751 to 829850.  The third batch of 100 were 837621 to 837720.  So a total of 567 were made in Canada in 1956.

Lastly, you did remarkably well for a $5 investment!  A truly excellent example of the Leica IIIf (red dial and self timer version) can sell for around $700 today.  It's still regarded as a fine usable camera and as something of a collectible item.

If you need to sell it, or want it to be more precisely appraised (in which case I'd need to see a couple small JPEG images so I can judge condition and such), please feel free to contact me at my personal e-mail address <silver@well.com> and I'll gladly offer up some recommendations for honest collectors you can approach for a stress free transaction.

Best wishes,

David Silver