M2 Skyrocket Price

[ColColt]

This has got to be the most absurd thing I've ever seen on KEH Camera's website. Surely it's a typo for a "bargain" camera.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Pioneer]

That is a collectible for sure!!

 

[ColColt]

Right. Mine was $650 and looks 100% better.

 

[Moopheus]

However, if you scratch off the black paint, you find a jewel-encrusted gold camera underneath.

 

[JW PHOTO]

I have owned a couple of M2's, but never a black one and I don't remember seeing a black M2 before. Maybe that's the clue...........................in gloss enamel?

 

[cramej]

Well, a black paint M2 sold on Westlicht for 16,000 Euros in 2014 if that says anything...

Also, according to Cameraquest, very few black paint M2's were produced over the 10 years that they were made. If the photo on KEH is the actual camera, it would be the 291st black M2 made.

 

[John Koehrer]

Some people can afford to collect Leica, I'm more able to afford matchbooks.
Shucks the black paint 3's & 4's aren't too cheap either.

 

[AgX]

What is a "preview lever" on a M-type?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

What is a "preview lever" on a M-type?

When a lens is mounted, the framelines for that lens' focal length is projected in the viewfinder. Using the preview lever, you can selectively bring framelines for different focal lengths into the viewfinder. From that, you may choose to use a different lens.

 

[Mick Fagan]

When a lens is mounted, the framelines for that lens' focal length is projected in the viewfinder. Using the preview lever, you can selectively bring framelines for different focal lengths into the viewfinder. From that, you may choose to use a different lens.

I never knew that, always something to learn. Neat feature though.

Mick.

 

[darkosaric]

M3/M2/M4 black paint are collectable - the price has usually more zeroes on the end than normal M3/M2/M4.

 

[Huss]

M3/M2/M4 black paint are collectable - the price has usually more zeroes on the end than normal M3/M2/M4.

Yep and you have to watch out for repainted regular M cameras being passed off as original black paint models.

 

[ColColt]

Just think, you cold buy several Leica MM cameras for that price...if you were so inclined to buy a Leica that only shot B&W.

 

[removed account4]

also, if you look at the serial number,
it is the phone number of rather important and
well known people** that might be part
of the high price as well.

** if you read the weekly world news in 1986 you would know
that is the phone number of the safehouse where Elvis, DB Cooper,
JFK and Whitey Bulger were all bunkmates. ( i think it is disconnected now. )

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Just think, you cold buy several Leica MM cameras for that price....

That does not matter to a collector who wants, and can afford, one of the few black-paint M2 bodies ever made.

 

[ColColt]

That's some expensive black paint. You'd have to be well heeled to afford a collection like that.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

To me this is meaningless rarity. A black paint M2 is like every other M2 except for the paint - and that particular "except for" isn't significant. Those who think the black version is worth an extra $10,000 rather than $10 are one-upmanship wankers of the first order.

It's not like this black M2 is the Leitz equivalent of the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is significant in itself and of which only 39 were made.

 

[blockend]

God is in the details for collectors, but the price hike sounds like tulipomania, a bubble, hype. If the market says black paint M2s are no big deal and their true value is two or three times the chrome version, all those noughts will mean nothing. If I were investing in cameras, I'd go for one owned by a famous photographer, especially one whose stock has remained high. Even then two generations down the line their work may be reappraised and found wanting, but they might also become seminal figures and their nicknacks sought after. If I wanted a black paint M2 I'd commission a specialist to paint one, or buy a re-paint.

 

[ColColt]

To me this is meaningless rarity. A black paint M2 is like every other M2 except for the paint - and that particular "except for" isn't significant. Those who think the black version is worth an extra $10,000 rather than $10 are one-upmanship wankers of the first order.

It's not like this black M2 is the Leitz equivalent of the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is significant in itself and of which only 39 were made.

What he said.