2021  ·  21 May 2021

Chargrilled

... blog post:

 

A Leica M4, fire damaged, sold at auction recently for a tidy sum. It seems even damaged beyond all practical purposes the Leica M caché lives on in the ghost of the machine.

image courtesy of Flint Auctions
image courtesy of Flint Auctions

So Flints Auctions' lot 36, described as "A Fire Damaged Leica M4 Rangefinder Camera 1968, chargrilled, serial no. 1212659, with Leitz Summicron f/2 50mm lens, 1968, serial no. 2270165", recently sold on the 29th April 2021 for the princely sum of £1,488.

image courtesy of Flint Auction
image courtesy of Flint Auction

This seems a lot of money for a defunct shell of a camera. Why anyone would pay that sort of money for a burnt out wreck is a mystery to me, personally.

image courtesy of Flint Auctions
image courtesy of Flint Auctions

Perhaps, just perhaps, its new owner sees it as a work of art? The ultimate in the stripped down aesthetic in some strange way? It does leave you wondering, however, if the magic words Leica M had not been associated with this little beastie that it wouldn't have just been binned with all the other damaged beyond repair junk from the fire?

 

Brand power writ large.