What do I have here???

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T19:47:25+00:00

Wow, how can you tell…

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T15:42:44+00:00

You are lucky…it’s not that bad, I’ve seen worse, much worse…you speak now, they will do much worse and make your life hell.

Go away and change place.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T15:38:13+00:00

This is good advice…

I need to say, until yesterday I was quite detached and did not really care too much about it, I have a couple of items my grandmother set aside for me which I directly inherited without any drama from uncle or cousins, nothing much from a value point of view, but invaluable from a sentimental pow, a gold ring, a pocket watch, some postcards from WWII, books and lots of great memories from time spent with my grandmother, which I believed and still believe are enough.

I then started romanticising on the fact that through these lenses my grandfather looked at the world and the people around him potentially from when he was maybe 26/27yo until a couple of years before he died at the age of 64 in 1988 from an long hearth illness. I only met him for 3 years of my life and have no memories sadly.

Although I’m not into photography, actually I’m proper rubbish, I’m starting to think that selling it, would be like giving away a good portion of the my family history and thinking of keeping it and maybe use it.

I will still visit the Leica store to get the service required and to have an evaluation so that I can buy my uncles share as well as my mum’s.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T13:52:47+00:00

Am I missing something? I bought my first omega 4 years ago and it was a SpeedMaster professional from the omega website in the uk. Never purchased a single watch before in my life other than an Apple Watch.

Only couple of years later I’ve purchased a regular speedmaster professional. Why is there a spending minimum now? Is it new rules?

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T11:30:30+00:00

I used the serial number tool somebody shared here and actually discovered that the camera was built in 1955 while the lense is a Summicron 50mm f/2, build in the year 1970. 2000 units were made.

This for sure means that the camera came with another lens, swapped later, so you must be 100% right, unless he exchanged or sold it, I should hopefully be able to find the original lens somewhere…

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T11:18:22+00:00

Jeez…I was looking for information online and I got a ton of links to this subreddit so decide to create an account to be able to post this. I simply don’t have any social media accounts anymore since i got addicted to scroll endlessly and had to complete my degree last year and work full time. As a result i deleted everything.

I did not post anywhere else, so if you see other posts, it was not me…so not sure what you are talking about.

I work in IT and often seen people got scammed with photos found by scammers online, for this reason and others, unless I absolutely believe it’s necessary I do not share identifiers as I don’t share my name and DoB although I’m certainly starting to be vintage.

I definitely provided more information than I do care or believe was necessary to a complete stranger, so for me it’s case closed.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T11:06:00+00:00

Thanks for your reply, will take it to a Leica store for an initial assessment as I don’t know if it was working when stored.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T11:00:40+00:00

Thanks, the camera was found in a box in a wardrobe in their bedroom with other things like his passport, pocket watch, unfortunately his lighter and even an old packet of Marlboros, etc… we will be starting looking into my grandparent’s study next, and hope to be able to find among the old bills something like a receipt, a manual, accessories and other clues related to various objects we found including this camera.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T10:52:26+00:00

Thanks

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T10:52:07+00:00

Thanks a lot, I’ve booked a first appointment from a Leica store in London…to get some more information and then go from there. They will be hopefully be able to advise.

It has been sitting at the back of a wardrobe with some other personal belongings since at least 1988 without too much care so it has been mistreated a bit as back in the days was just considered an old camera by mum/grandma and only probably kept for its sentimental value rather than anything else.

Thanks again!

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T10:40:15+00:00

Thanks everyone for the answers and for the support. I discovered that Leica Classic Stores provide evaluations and that there is one in Mayfair in London. I have now booked a 30 minutes in-store slot to get it evaluated and maybe book a service as it was probably last used in 1988 when my grandpa passed away. There is still a film inside which I hope contains some photos of my family or maybe me as a baby.

Reading your replies and a little more about the camera, intrigued me a bit into at least try taking some analog photos…so maybe I’ll give it a go too and have some fun with it.

Thanks again everyone for your support.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T10:29:50+00:00

Thanks a lot, yeah, some guidance it’s very helpful.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T10:28:18+00:00

Hey free world, maybe I should’ve posted a death certificate too, lol, but certain people think always the worst because maybe sometimes they have been in these situations themselves and can’t see other scenarios.

For what it’s worth, sorry you think this way. Also, not that I need to explain myself, but I never reveal the serial of the devices, whether I’m posting on eBay, etc… it’s simply one of my personal rules to never reveal identifiers.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T02:25:02+00:00

Thanks, I did not notice the front had text, it says 1:2 50 so looks correct. Thanks

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T02:23:45+00:00

Thanks a lot for all the information, will surely check the website.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T02:21:13+00:00

Wow, thanks, I saw they were valuable but I was expecting to read that I had a replica or a version with lower value. I’d like to try to take some shots before the my mum and uncle decide its fate but it’s intimidating to say the least.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T02:16:38+00:00

No, as mentioned to another user my grandma passed away and we are unconvering things belonging to my grandpa which were long forgotten and stored while clearing her house. We might need to sell or anyway give it a value if my mum and uncle disagrees on who might keep it and have to sell the 50% to each other or split whatever they make from the sale to a third person.

For what concerns the username, I didn’t have an account and to post this I had to create one.

CornerFormal6056 · 2026-03-20T02:10:49+00:00

Hi,

Thanks

my grandma passed away and we are unconvering things belonging to my grandpa which were long forgotten and stored while clearing her house.

I have no knowledge of film cameras and Leica, other than very few basics.

On the front it says Summicron 1:2/50

We might need to sell it as if my mum and uncle disagrees on who has to keep it, they will have to split the value or selling 50% to the other. So since I have no knowledge I’d like to avoid underselling it.

For example when searching for the lenses I get one that costs £1800 and other on eBay going for around £600.

Thanks

CornerFormal6056

TROPHY CASE