7 jun 2007 kl. 05.12 skrev Roger Eichhorn:
A couple of years ago I saw a Leica with a lens cap adorned with a Swastika at a street shop in St. Petersburg. The vendor suggested that it was made for the Nazi brass, but I didn't inquire about the price as I had no interest in buying it. It looked genuine, but how can one tell? Would it likely have accepted modern cassettes? It appeared to have a built-in range finder but my memory is kind of foggy.
A very common type of Russian fake, from your description. Often, they´re "gold" plated, and covered with "lizard" skin as well. They ´re made from old Russian cameras that in turn were made to look like (and plagiarize the mechanics of) Leicas.
Generally, beside a genuine Leica (and genuine Leica Luxuses with gold and lizard skins are EXTREMELY rare, and never "adorned" with swastikas...), they look very crudely finished, and there are several giveaway details like the shutter button, rangefinder window framing, and, easiest of all, the lens´ focal length is engraved as "50 mm" instead of "5 cm" as the genuine Elmars always were back then.
Curiously, there is a growing collector´s market for these fakes (marketed as such); personally, I would just as well collect Coke can cameras.....
Per Öfverbeck http://ofverbeck.se "In a world without walls or fences, who needs Windows or Gates"
