I believe that 1951 was the issue of the red lettered 3.5 Elmar. THE sharpest of the 3.5 Elmars which were the lenses that made the Leica famous.... The 3.5 was produced till 1959, the 2.8 was sharper, the pre WWll 3.5's were uncoated and have there own following. The f2 Summar is another early lens with IT'S own following pre WWll and also uncoated, very smmooooth at wide open, especially with color. Very inexpensive, prone to scratches, fog and cleaning marks. "Clean" ones are findable, also a collapsable lens like the Elmar.