Leica cameras, accessories and lenses can be worth tens of thousands of pounds, tend to be the most valuable cameras and are the most popular cameras among collectors, says a specialist.
Mr Michael Pritchard, camera specialist at Christie's in London, says Leica are usually the most valuable and are popular because of their quality.
"They're still eminently usable. A lot of the cameras even from the 1920s and 1930s are still going to be used by people. And it's a bit like the Rolls Royce; they also have a cachet - if you like a snob value - to them that people like and will buy for that reason."
Some people buy old Leica cameras to use, while others keep them as collectors' items. While it's unlikely purchasers of a rare £30,000 sterling (€50,000) Leica would use it regularly, "a lot of the more straightforward models from the 1950s particularly will end up being used on a regular basis. And people should find that if they come to sell them later then they will have some increase in value", he says.
Based in Solms, Germany, Leica cameras were first produced in 1925 and are still produced today. Old Leica cameras range from about £200 sterling up to £30,000. "There's a group from the mid-1950s, the Leica IIIg and M3. Those are the most popular because they were the ultimate in the development of the Leica; all mechanical - i.e., no batteries - well made and for that reason they're the most useable ones today," he says.
"They tend to average around £700 to £1,000."
The date or model of Leica won't be immediately obvious to the layperson. The cameras generally look very similar. The earlier models have no indication of model name but the M series cameras, introduced in 1954 with the M3, do bear the model name, says Mr Pritchard.
"But what's good about Leica, and another reason why they're particularly collectable, is that every camera has a serial number on it. And Leica have been very good about publishing the serial number information. So you can actually look up the serial number and it will tell you what the model should be and the year of manufacture. So from a collector's point of view, it's great because people can get a lot of information on their cameras."
But if the serial number will help determine values, condition is highly important.
For instance, that £30,000 top price for a Leica was paid for a 1930 goldplated Leica I with a lizard skin body covering, of which only 95 were made so it was rare. But the same model can be worth as relatively little as £3,000.
While Leica cameras are obviously collectable, the lenses and accessories can often have as much or more value in their own right. Special viewfinders, special attachments such as remote releases for firing the camera from a distance, flash attachments, rapid winders such as spring, clockwork or thumb operated winders, can be valuable.
Rapid winders tend to be worth between £300 and £3,000 sterling.
Viewfinders can range from about £50 to £500 each. Lenses can range from £100 to £5,000, depending on what they are, while flash attachments tend to be "a bit more modest" fetching between £50 and £100, he says.
Items in a Christie's camera auction on next June 8th include a Leica IIIc with lens and accessories made for use by wartime photojournalist Fred Rieder, estimated at £2,000 to £3,000 sterling.
A Leica MP no. 376, made specifically for photojournalists, is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000, while a 1925 Leica Elmax is estimated at £4,000 to £6,000.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
