Valuing an oddball lens

[ntenny]

I have a strange older lens: a SOM Berthiot wide-angle for Contax mount. It might be a post-factory conversion, but it doesn't have any markings to indicate the fact (as Roger Lemasson, for instance, seems usually to have marked his lens conversions).

I think I'd like to get it appraised, mainly to find out whether its value as a collectible greatly exceeds its value as a shooter. (It's a perfectly usable lens, but nothing miraculous, and I shoot very little 35mm anyway.) The appraiser would need to be fairly well plugged in to the strange-European-lenses market, as this isn't really normal stuff even in the collectible world---Berthiot lenses for Contax are pretty thin on the ground in general, and I've never seen *any* other example of this particular lens.

I've never had an appraisal done for anything that wasn't a house. How does this work, and how do I find someone who can do the job competently?

Much thanks

-NT

 

[snapguy]

eboy

Did you look for clues on Eboy? It seems they are made by a French company. There's a lot of those lenses for movie cameras, Bolex-era and such.

 

[MDR]

Contact the Leicashop in Vienna they might even be interested in the lens themselves either for an auction (Westlicht) or for their shop.
www.leicashop.at

 

[ntenny]

Contact the Leicashop in Vienna they might even be interested in the lens themselves either for an auction (Westlicht) or for their shop.
www.leicashop.at

See, this is the sort of thing I don't know: If I approach a dealer for an appraisal, doesn't that create a conflict of interest for them? What if I get the appraisal and then decide not to sell, or accept an offer from someone else?

This does seem like the sort of item Westlicht deals in, I just don't know how one approaches dealmaking in those circles.

-NT

 

[Two23]

If it's Leica, they like it.



Kent in SD

 

[MDR]

Auction houses often offer free appraisal Westlicht is an auction house and affilated to the Leicashop same building and owner. Westlicht prefers that a seller or interested persons contact them by phone or email.

Peter Coeln (Owner)
Tel: ++43 1 523 5659 10
E-Mail: pcoeln@leicashop.com

Jo Geier
Tel: ++43 1 523 5659 12
E-Mail: hgeier@leicashop.com

or

auction@westlicht.com