Just Plain Silly

[thuggins]

 

[BradS]

Yup. I'd ask if he misplaced the decimal point.

but, hey! there is an opportunity to "make an offer"

 

[roblopes]

View attachment 246306

There are higher one's than that.

 

[pentaxuser]

It always makes me suspicious when somehow a seller apparently fails to spot a decimal point in the wrong place. I have seen a theory that e-bay is open to money laundering. If this is a mistake with the decimal point then that means that the price has the equivalent of 50 cents in a nearly $40,000 price which seems to be a joke. I wonder when cars for sale in the U.S. in this range had a price that ended $0.50

This tends to point towards some other explanation and suggests that there is at the very least that something about this is outside a normal financial transaction. Sellers may get away with quite large premiums over market rates but this size of a premium?

pentaxuser

 

[BradS]

It always makes me suspicious when somehow a seller apparently fails to spot a decimal point in the wrong place. I have seen a theory that e-bay is open to money laundering. If this is a mistake with the decimal point then that means that the price has the equivalent of 50 cents in a nearly $40,000 price which seems to be a joke. I wonder when cars for sale in the U.S. in this range had a price that ended $0.50

This tends to point towards some other explanation and suggests that there is at the very least that something about this is outside a normal financial transaction. Sellers may get away with quite large premiums over market rates but this size of a premium?

pentaxuser

I guess I was thinking a little less literally - more along the lines that asking if the decimal point was in the wrong place might be a subtle way to suggest that the price was ludicrous.

 

[shutterfinger]

There's a sucker somewhere that's sure their getting a bargain and buys it. I've seen listings like this before.

 

[Dan Daniel]

Old joke- guy selling a pair of sneakers on the street. Think New York, shoes on a couple of cardboard boxes. Someone asks how much.

"One million dollars.'
'Are you crazy?"
"Yeah, but I only need to make one sale!"

 

[grat]

I like how "prototype" is misspelled.

Oh! He has a *number* of prototype (and prototyp) Rollei's. As does someone in Hong Kong.

But they must be legit, they have Ceritificates! ... not Certificates, mind you.

 

[itsdoable]

I like how "prototype" is misspelled.

Prototype is correctly spelled in German, as shown on the box. The seller is from the Netherlands. English may not be the 1st language. I've been known to mistype thing too. And collectors item prices are whatever they are willing to pay, just like anything else.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Collectors pay what seem like ridiculous prices. Rich ones, that is.

My late friend Charlie Barringer had a 40/0.33 Zeiss Super-Q Gigantar. The lens was a joke, f/0.33 is impossible in air. It passed light, may have formed an image but ...

Charlie's widow sold his collection to Westlicht. At auction the lens brought (that's brought, as in sold for, not an asking price) 90,000 Euros. Plus a 20% buyer's premium.

 

[DREW WILEY]

A fishing expedition. With a big enough lure, maybe he's hoping to land a marlin swimming around in the goldfish pond. I don't buy cameras and lenses unless I intend to use them, so what collectors might be willing pay for whatever, be it a one of a kind beer can or an odd Rolleiflex, is their issue, not mine.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hey! I have two of those!

 

[pentaxuser]

So on balance a perfectly legitimate sale by a perfectly legitimate seller in which only "caveat emptor" applies? In terms of human behaviour I have always found that those who allegedly have more money than sense have, in the main, amassed that money by having more sense than money initially and except for a very small minority of those people this more sense than money instinct that got them where they are now, seldom leaves them.

It might be worth a lot to someone who can have the bragging rights of buying an almost unique camera but does it come under that definition. If not it leaves the realm of second division camera enthusiasts who have failed to do their research to be exploited. Does this failing deserve to be exploited in this way? If a rich educationally subnormal individual who got his money through luck such as via an inheritance buys this camera is that acceptable. Not in my book.

If on the other hand we believe that a world which is red in tooth and claw performs a service for humanity by weeding out the weak then its OK. That philosophy says that world has only two kinds of people - the quick and the dead. It's your fault if you fall into the latter category and you need weeding out.

The more I take it to its logical conclusion the more chilling it sounds

pentaxuser

 

[JPD]

They sold so few of the FX-N model that it doesn't matter much if it's a prototype, one of the first or last produced. It was a nice effort to update the Rolleiflex with 55 cm close focus, but at $5000+ it was too expensive. I'd rather use the Rolleinar 1 on an older Rolleiflex to focus that close.

 

[grat]

Prototype is correctly spelled in German, as shown on the box. The seller is from the Netherlands. English may not be the 1st language. I've been known to mistype thing too. And collectors item prices are whatever they are willing to pay, just like anything else.

I did consider that, and if all the "certificates", including the ones from the dealer in Hong Kong, weren't universally misspelled as "Ceritificate", and if the listings didn't alternate between "prototype" and "prototyp", and if most of them didn't appear to be near-identical models with different name plates and colored panels, it would be easier to take it seriously.

Having looked through some of the listings more closely, it's entirely possible these are rare, one-off "display" type units sent to dealers-- my Volvo, for example, was a unique combination of materials and options sent to the dealers to announce a new model year. So it *is* possible. But it's still silly, and makes it look rather suspicious.

 

[ic-racer]

Why are you posting that? So you agree with the seller that the listing needs to go viral? I have no interest in the item, I have not searched for that and wasn't expecting to see click-bait on these forums. This should be moved to the For Sale section.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

There's another seller on ebay selling partially manufactured Rollei front standards from Braunschweig, presumably from the day the factory closed down. At this valuation, they should be worth thousands!

 

[warden]

Agree with those suggesting a misplaced decimal. Should be $399,950.00. Someone should alert the seller.

 

[ciniframe]

That's about as silly as Lomography asking $375 for a Lubitel 166+ camera.
KEH has several TLR's , Yashica's , with warranty for less than half that price.

 

[itsdoable]

I did consider that, and if all the "certificates", including the ones from the dealer in Hong Kong, weren't universally misspelled as "Ceritificate", and if the listings didn't alternate between "prototype" and "prototyp", and if most of them didn't appear to be near-identical models with different name plates and colored panels, it would be easier to take it seriously.

Having looked through some of the listings more closely, it's entirely possible these are rare, one-off "display" type units sent to dealers-- my Volvo, for example, was a unique combination of materials and options sent to the dealers to announce a new model year. So it *is* possible. But it's still silly, and makes it look rather suspicious.

I did not see any misspelled "certificate" in the listing, nor in the ones from Hong Kong that you associated this listing with. It is possible that they read this forum and corrected the listings though.

When i searched, the top ~15 listings for over priced collectable Rollei parafanalia, they came from 2 sources, The Leica Store in Lisse (the OP's click bait), and Breguet Camera in Hong Kong ... both of which are.. um... unique, worth a visit if you are a camera nut in the area. And I did not see any obvious misspelled atrocities in their listings... except maybe the price.

 

[Jmatteson]

This is what happens when your partner who is sick of you buying cameras says "You need to sell one of them at least".

You, with all the smarts, say "Ok, love. Will do. I'll put it up for sale right now."

That price? That screams "I put it up for sale as requested...but I have no intention of selling."

 

[Dan Fromm]

This is what happens when your partner who is sick of you buying cameras says "You need to sell one of them at least".

You, with all the smarts, say "Ok, love. Will do. I'll put it up for sale right now."

That price? That screams "I put it up for sale as requested...but I have no intention of selling."

See post #20 above.

Leica-Store-Lisse is a serious business, not a hen-pecked husband trying to placate a nagging spouse. Same goes for Breguet Camera.

Both use eBay to advertise the good stuff and to move items that are more easily sold.

If you want to see another seller like that, look at this https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEICA-35MM...HERICAL-PROTOTYPE-11873-LENS-1-1/293040809136 item, click on other items, then on sold listings and on price, highest

 

[Jmatteson]

Apparently the word "s-a-r-c-a-s-m" needs to be spelled out? It was what we refer to as a "j-o-k-e".

Hence the winking face.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. I'm a hen-pecked husband who sometimes has to placate a spouse. I didn't read your as you intended. Smilies can be ambiguous.

 

[Jmatteson]

Sounds like PTSD to me. (The single guy who got rid of the spouse.) Lol

I guess I assumed that a wink means the same thing everywhere when it comes to commentary like the above.... That whatever is being said is being said in jest.

You know.... The whole joking stereotype of spouses nagging eachother.

(Not that I know. I don't have to placate or be nagged by anyone. Maybe not seeing how that isn't a joke is a sign that my PTSD is cured?)

In any case, the price seems absurd, but hey, can't hurt to ask.