DUPED!

dupe: [doop, dyoop], verb, duped, dup·ing.
–noun
1. a person who is easily deceived or fooled; gull.
2. a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person: a dupe of the opponents.
–verb (used with object)
3. to make a dupe of; deceive; delude; trick.

That camera had me fooled alright. The 'Gold Leica' turns out indeed to be a cheap Russian fake!

I e-mailed the guys at Collectable Cameras in Phoenix, and this is the response I got:

Michael;

Thanks for e-mailing. I looked at the pic and immediately came to a
conclusion. I showed it to the other guys here and all said the same
thing:

Russian Fake!!

The Russians have had a cottage industry on these since the USSR
went away. In the 30's the Russians began copying Leicas under the
trade name FED and Zorkii. They were practically clones of the Leica
II series. They made such large numbers of each variation that they
are still in far from short supply. The Germans made over 52000
Leica IIs and the Russians made, if I recall, several million of
their variations.

Given those kind of numbers, the Leicas are
definitely more valuable. In the last 20 years the Russian cameras
have appeared with the Leica markings and all sorts of military and
political markings from WWII. There was even a batch of them that
appeared with Hitler's personal photographer's name on them. The
little industry has grown -- taking old FEDs and Zorkiis and redoing
the top plates and selling them as Leicas.

This brassed one is very common too. They were originally passed
off as Gold Leica 'Luxus' models. Leica made 95 of those gold plated
ones. Not likely one would be able to buy one of them on the street
in Eastern Europe. Many of these brass ones were though. I got that
phone call twice a week for a few years.... 'I have a gold Leica,
what's it worth?"

Value-wise, the Russian cameras sell for $50 ish as FEDs and
Zorkiis. "re-badged' as Leicas they have a little more curiosity
value so maybe $60-75 ish. Unfortunately, many of these fakes have
gotten prices of a few hundred bought by uninformed buyers.

It is common to see some made up story on ebay concerning these
cameras. I would tell your student to go ahead and use it if it is
working OK as is. It will give the feel of operating a vintage Leica
and they were actually good cameras. I have a few myself and they're
fun to play with. I wouldn't worry about breaking it. There's
millions of them out there for parts!!

As an aside, if we did assume it was actually a Leica, it would have
virtually no value as the silver chrome finish is missing.
Collectors want as close to original as possible. Leica never let
any camera out of the factory without its finish. Even during the
war they were still producing as close to full specification finish
as possible.

The Leica II (as the serial number IDs it-1939) is worth $600 if
mint with mint lens. Average is $250-300. As you photo shows,
probably no more than a working Russian copy.

Hope that doesn't disappoint.

Ed

Collectible Cameras
1305 E. Northern Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85020
http://www.collectiblecameras.com
Voice 602-944-2112 Fax 602.944-0123

Serving The World Market For All Collectible Cameras

I responded to Ed indicating that it was not a dissapointment, rather enjoying the 'education' about the fake Rusky Liecas. Now I want to go find myself one and shoot with it. Maybe my student will let me buy it from her. I always go by the old axiom: "If it sounds (or looks) too good to be true..." I had a hunch about the Russian fake, but the mere idea of holding something so super rare and valuable just had my blood'a'pumping!

Here's a link I found a couple of days ago while doing research on the ultra-rare gold-plated Leica!

http://www.cameraquest.com/fakerusk.htm

A little education sure goes a long way.