My first Leica: where is it now?

Sorry, mine has a 9xx,xxx SN, and it's a double stroke. It'd be interesting to find out where it is now... And who bought it from whom and when... Take care!

Paul, mine was second hand when I bought it. It was an even older double stroke model (800,000 series, with an indestructible winding mechanism) than that of Francisco. Great camera, purchased from the personal collection of a camera store salesman who needed cash for his growing family. It went from me to a gentleman in a small rural town. I wonder occasionally if he still has it and what sort of images he has weaned out of it. These timeless cameras make us wonder where they are. Norman, the seller to me, is now a repair technician and he may well have seen it for a CLA at some point.

And mine is a Leica IIIg #905431 with 50mm Elmar f/2.8 #155183, resting comfortably in its Fogg Bag in my closet along with a 35mm Summaron f/3.5 #1488238 and 90mm Elmar f/4 #1171175.
This kit was a congratulatory gift from my parents upon my graduation from a Pennsylvania secondary school over half a century ago. It has been with me ever since, through two complete CLAs and works as well as the first time I took it from the box.
Now that I have an M7 and M9, the old IIIg doesn't get out much. Too bad!

Sorry Paul, my M3's are 1,095,nnn and 1,066,nnn. I still have my 1967 M2 purchased new from Stone Camera on Bromfield St. in Boston. Late Captain Al's old stomping grounds.

Paul, This is good. I got my first, an M3, the same year as you, 1969. I took all of my early photos with it. I got hired (my first photo job) by a newspaper in Stuart, Florida, in 1973 and one day I got really stupid. I went for my daily rounds to the police station and there was a detective there with an engraving tool, kind of like a Dremel. He was grinding numbers and words on all sorts of stuff, guns, etc. He said that I should let him grind some kind of mark on my camera so if it ever got stolen I could spot it right away on someone on the street. So I let him grind two vertical lines in the top plate just above the rewind lever. I lost the camera in the early '80s in Brooksville, Florida, along with the 50 summicron that was on it. I often wonder where that camera has ended up. It must be out there somewhere. If one of you has it, do not worry. I will not try to claim it!!! ( BTW the # was over 1 mil)

I don't know about my first Leica but I still have my first Nikon F which I bought brand new in July of 1967 with the 50mm Nikkor F2. I few months later I was a photographer for our major mid west university photo staff with a daily newspaper and yearbook to shoot assignments for. We, on the photo staff spend a lot of time arguing over Nikon vs Leica. The photo editor had a new M4, the assitant had an M2, I had my F, and another guy had a black F, and we had a Canon and a Nikon rangefinder users on the staff also. The Nikon doesn't get out much any more, but my M6TTL sure does......and my D700.

It would be cool to have a Leica registry (I don't recall if Leica has such a thing on their site, the way Hasselblad does). I'm restoring an older Ferrari, and there is a registry for these models. It keeps track of who owned it, where, what happened to it, what was changed or modified, etc. It is a great resource. Perhaps too much for a lowly Leica though.

How about buying another one and creating better memories?

My first is in front of me, given to me by my father 35 years ago when I was 16. M2 sn 942xxx.

Mine are both in the 10xxxxx range, so no luck.