Seriously? Leica for $250K?

Kirks518 · Dec 20, 2014

Is there really this much value in this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEICA-MP-BL...524370304?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item418c28fb80

sagai · Dec 20, 2014

Well, if you value the money you spent on the purchase then definitely yes there is, otherwise I have never really managed to get my head around these extravagant pricing for actually any camera.

summicron1 · Dec 20, 2014

that's just silly. His asking price is pure speculation, and ebay strikes me as an odd place to see what he claims is such a unique item ... if i thought it was worth that much (which I don't) I'd want to have it examined professionally myself, and have an attorney/researcher study its provenance to prove it is what he says it is.

Richard Man · Dec 20, 2014

At least you get free shipping. I would expect hand delivery via a private jet

sagai · Dec 20, 2014

didjiman said:
At least you get free shipping. I would expect hand delivery via a private jet

Plus a decent bikini show ! [emoji12]

snapguy · Dec 20, 2014

price

At one time I sold real estate. I would explain in great detail how a seller's house was worth no more than, say, $300,000. He would accept that a house LIKE HIS was worth that but would insist that HIS house was worth a lot more. Why. Because it is HIS house. Do not expect most folks to be rational when it comes to big bucks. It is something beyond the human condition. And don't get your underwear in a twist because of stupid price tags.

gone · Dec 20, 2014

Not only that, the seller has the cojones to state that he has a "modest" price on it! Reading the ad is a wonderful window into realtorspeak too. Total BS from one end to the other.

bdial · Dec 20, 2014

There is a lot of this sort of stuff in ebay, or at least, you see a lot of it called out in forums.

As for this particular example, does anyone else think that it looks faked?
To my eye brassing looks more strategic than natural, and what's with all those scratches under the paint in the shot of the rear of the camera?

benjiboy · Dec 20, 2014

Things are "worth" what people will pay for them objects don't have intrinsic value if some collector with more money than sense will pay that amount, that's what the Leica is worth to him.

PentaxBronica · Dec 20, 2014

The listing makes reference to "blue chip stock" - this is being sold as an investment, not a photographic tool. It's an extremely risky investment as you're putting so much money into something which is just as likely to go down in price as up. I foresee a large number of "rare" and limited production cameras and lenses coming up for sale in the next ten years or so as the original owners either sell their collections to fund retirement care or their next of kin sell off the estate. If, say, fifty of these hit the market in one year the price would go down.

A key part of investment is talking the item up. Tell people that it's rare and desirable and valuable often enough and they'll believe you. What you don't want is for someone to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

TBH the only smart way to speculate on photographic equipment is to buy things you actually want to use at low prices. If prices go up, you win. If prices stay steady, you still win as you bought something you wanted and produced plenty of images with it.

Jim Noel · Dec 20, 2014

If it is worth 1/10 of the asking price it should be through a reputable auction house like Sotheby's. I don't believe hey would take it without a significant inquiry into it's provenance. I agree that the brassing doesn't look quite correct for normal wear.

blockend · Dec 20, 2014

Jim Noel said:
If it is worth 1/10 of the asking price it should be through a reputable auction house like Sotheby's.

Exactly. The idea you'd buy a quarter of a million dollar camera on the word of an ebay seller is laughable.

aoresteen · Dec 20, 2014

It is worth $25K no more. But even at that I would not buy it. For $5K I can have one made out of an M3 that will work just as well. Hell, I have a motor driven M3 that works better.

All mine needs a black paint job.

benjiboy · Dec 20, 2014

There's no law I know of against what extortionate price you can ask for an item, but nobody's arm is been twisted to buy it either, so in the end prices find their own level.

Sirius Glass · Dec 20, 2014

I want two so I can take stereo 35mm photographs. I just have to figure out where to attach the headphones. Siriusly!

ciniframe · Dec 20, 2014

Silly prices are not only the purview of "collector" items. There one clown on the bay who prices $10 cameras as BIN for $999.99.
Perhaps he's hopes the world's champion 'dumb person' bidder will visit his auction.

Pioneer · Dec 20, 2014

Well, if it is BIN at $999 then it shouldn't bother the bidder to go to $99.99 instead of stopping at $19.99.

Trask · Dec 20, 2014

Setadel Studios is one of my "saved sellers" on eBay because he has a wide variety of photo equipment and stereo gear that's interesting. In my opinion, his prices are sometimes a little high but I've often thought his gear was clean, fairly described and documented with photographs. I would imagine, based on what I've seen of this seller, that he believes his asking price, while high, may be acceptable to a collector who really wants this camera, which I would agree is rare. Certainly Setadel Studios knows that it's one thing to post another price, and it's another thing to sell it. It doesn't upset me that he's testing the marketplace by setting a high value.

250swb · Dec 21, 2014

For people living in capitalist countries I'm always amazed at the bafflement shown in how the society works. If we all came from North Korea, yes, the price charged for a very rare object would be inexplicable. But none of your homes are worth what they are valued at, the materials to rebuild it (should it be demolished by a tornado) will be much less than the economic value of the structure as it currently stands. By the reckoning of many outraged at the price of a bit of Leica memorabilia your house should only be worth what you can rebuild it for if you are applying similar standards. Think about that conundrum for a while then transpose your findings to the Leica MP situation and perhaps things will become clearer.

Steve

blockend · Dec 21, 2014

For a price to be so high it has to reflect some superlative, the first, the only, the most. All this camera pricing illustrates is a cultural phenomenon, the fetishism photographic collectors ascribe to objects made by The Leica company. Collecting brands can be a bubble like any other, leaving the quarter million investment to have a resale value of, maybe, ten thousand bucks.

benjiboy · Dec 21, 2014

Someone bought an item unrelated to photography on E bay recently for £1,500 and immediately sold it to someone on an enthusiasts website he was a member of for £3,000 the members of the website were appalled at this and were calling him every name under the Sun, but in a capitalist society there's no law against making a profit.

PentaxBronica · Dec 21, 2014

Jim Noel said:
If it is worth 1/10 of the asking price it should be through a reputable auction house like Sotheby's. I don't believe hey would take it without a significant inquiry into it's provenance. I agree that the brassing doesn't look quite correct for normal wear.

Well, the advert states that the camera's history is documented by Leica, but if I was asking that much for a camera I'd include a scan of whatever Leica sent by way of response to the query.

In investment terms buying a plain M3 in good condition is probably a better bet. At least that way you have a camera you can use without worrying about how many thousand you're wiping off the value by doing so.

250swb · Dec 21, 2014

PentaxBronica said:
Well, the advert states that the camera's history is documented by Leica, but if I was asking that much for a camera I'd include a scan of whatever Leica sent by way of response to the query.

Lets just run this by you again, there are only 138 of these cameras ever made, all are documented, so I'm sure if you went to the dealer and announced yourself as a serious bidder you would have the full history given to you on a plate. Don't confuse it with a camera to use (unless you are exceptionally rich) because that may lead you to worry about the value compared with a regular M3 camera.

Steve

blockend · Dec 21, 2014

Nobody's debating the camera is unusual, and by a highly prestigious manufacturer, but there weren't 3, or 5 of them made, there were 138. In other words it was a low run, serial production variation of an otherwise ordinary Leica. How many people are willing to lay down a quarter of a million notes for a tweaked production camera?
I know nothing of Leica-erotic and the feeding frenzy that surrounds the marque, but given the numbers made, I can't see how a camera without any unique attributes could sell for more than, say, $30-50,000. That the asking price is five times that amount suggests I should crawl back into my hole, or the seller is having a laugh.

Pioneer · Dec 21, 2014

Wow! This sounds like a great deal!

I have never seen a Leica BP MP before. I don't doubt it is probably worth the amount being asked. It is just too bad I don't have that much money, or am even likely to earn that much over the remainder of my life.

There are just a couple little things bothering me.

First, if other examples of black paint MPs have sold for $400,000, why are they selling this for only $250,000?

Second, if they were going to ask this much you would think that they could clean that little smudge in the middle top plate next to the accessory shoe.

Seriously? Leica for $250K?

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