Now here’s a punt for you. No sooner have Amelia Earhart’s bones been identified on a remote Pacific island, when up pops her treasured Leica on eBay for a tidy £50,000.
Is it worth it? Is it genuine? It comes a with back story that could be plausible and the seller says that it was part of a larger lot of cameras he sold at a Mctear’s Auctioneers in Glasgow in March 2017.
The Leica I, made around 1926/7 has a fixed 5cm Elmar and comes with some film canisters, a purse to hold filters and a vertical rangefinder. A similar but unattributed camera and accessories would be worth between £1,200 and £1,500, according to Ivor Cooper of Red Dot Cameras. The signed card, if genuine, could be worth perhaps £1,000 but the problem is in tying the two items together. If this could be done successfully then the whole would be worth a lot more than the sum of the parts.
Here’s the blurb from the listing, unedited so don’t blame me for the typos:
“Im selling Amelia Earharts camera which was gifted by her to a family memeber in 1933 after returning back from a trip to Chicago with her Husband.
“The camera has been in my family possesion since that time and has been in long term storage, the camera appears to be working correctly.
“The hand signed card was personally signed by Amelia and given to my Grandfather along with the camera by Amelia Earhart back in 1933 in Rye New York
“Everything is authentic , Ive known this camera all my life — the signed card is almost like new as it has been stored carefully — will post world wide —I would like the camera to go to a museum if possible.
“Please note I have absolutely nothing to prove that this was in fact Miss Earharts Camera and research would need to be done to confirm such, I have absolutely no idea how to do that myself. From memory over 40 years ago my Father told me that she found it fidly to load, Miss Earhart may have studied Photography , my Grandfather had said as much and described her as a keen photographer , she preffered a Kodak folding camera as I recall being told, she was also described as very nice and down to earth.
“Amelias camera was at Mctears Auction house in Glasgow in march 2017, it was part of a rather large collection of cameras that I sold through Mctears , Unfortuantely the auction house could not find enough interest in the UK for Amelias camera and as such the camera remained unsold. I can say this as I want to be totaly transparent. Auction estimate was 10- £15000. The last picture is from Mctears Auction house, I was there on the day that picture was taken, Mctears had used a trade gazzette to advertise the collection and as such I considered some items were sold at less than their true value and then re sold on by dealers at a profit later.
“I do understand that Provenance is an issue, If I had that the camera would be worth Millions, not thousands. I had Bonhams Auctions out in 2016 who said as much when they inspected the camera.”
You have another 25 days or so to get your bids in. Stock up your PayPal account. Or you can buy it now for £50,000, taking quite a lot on trust.
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I was at the McTear’s auction in question and bought about a quarter of the sold lots. The sale was well advertised on the Internet. Now it’s for sale for 5 times more than the reserve at McTear’s…
" I would like it to go to a museum". After someone pays me 50k with no proof whatsoever.
Hmm. Methinks not.
I think I will keep my money firmly where it belongs, in my wallet, just reading the blurb is enough to make my bank manager shiver – let alone if I told him I was mad enough to be thinking about doing this.
Dave
Indeed. If I were attempting to sell something for £50k I would seek a tad of professional presentation — even on eBay.
Its on eBay.. thats enough in my opinion. If it was the real deal it would be somewhere more reputable, and with a proven ownership record.
This listing has been the subject of extensive discussion on the Leica Forum during the past week. While I wish the seller well in his endeavours, there is a complete absence of provenance in this case and the camera is worth no more than a I Model A of its type and condition. I am surprised that this is being sold on eBay rather than through a professional camera auction house. There are people out there, eg Lars Netopil, who have a track record of determining provenance through factory and sales records and other means before providing authentication to an auction house. I believe that attempting to sell this on Ebay is a waste of time. Some have suggested that this might be worth a punt, but I would feel that anyone with a gambling frame of mind would be better off going to Cheltenham to back a few horses this week. With due respect to the good folks at Bonhams, this camera would never be worth millions, even if provenance with Amelia Earhart was established.
William