Hello Carlos,
Yes, I agree, Mr Prochnow must have been wrong with 1994. Although not solid
proof, there is a hint in his book IV on page 54-1012 in the caption of the HN
Edition picture. He writes that 1920 is the birth year of both Franke &
Heidecke and Helmut Newton. He continues that the HN Edition appeared around 70
years later. In that case 1994 is a bit late for a 70 years anniversary. 1991/2
would be more like it. I think it is safe to say it took them some effort and a
few years to sell the pricey things.
Anyway, thank you for your help. I am in contact with someone who expected to
have purchased an "Expression" but it turned out to be a normal black 2.8 GX of
1990.
Best regards,
Ferdi.
Op 15 aug. 2015, om 14:23 heeft CarlosMFreaza <cmfreaza@xxxxxxxxx> het
volgende geschreven:
2015-08-14 17:35 GMT-03:00 Ferdi Stutterheim <fwstutterheim@xxxxxxxxxx>:
----
"......The book was published in 1993 so 1992 as year for the Helmut Newton
Edition is convincible. I would not be surprised if (some of) the cameras
were made a little earlier. Let's assume they took a number of cameras from
existing stock and just tarted them up...."
----
Hi Ferdi:
Yes, there is no doubt , if the book is from 1993, it could
have an ad from 1992 BTW. I also found in my old files the sources to say the
GX "Helmut Newton" was made before 1994, as the Camerapedia data also
indicates. They are photography magazines issued at the time and then a very
reliable source. We must discard 1994 as manufacture year for this GX "Helmut
Newton" edition, the info in the Report IV book and Rolleiclub web site is
not right from this point of view. The AMERICAN PHOTO-ND magazine, May-June
1993, page 15, has two little photographs about the Rolleiflex 2,8GX "Helmut
Newton" at the ending of the page and a brief commentary about it:
http://tinyurl.com/pusvtke
The GX "HN" edition had a continuous presence in "Popular photography"
magazine through little ads from Wall Street Camera and B&H along 1993, it
was also advertised in Playboy and other magazines during that year in the
United States.It also appeared in some ads during 1994, but its strongest
presence was during 1993 in the States. Some 1994 little ads say about the
"HN" edition (more or less): "...as seen in the Playboy magazine Dec 1993..."
However, talking about 1992 in the United States, the ads in "Popular
Photography" are still about the "regular" 2,8/80 GX, as you can see in this
August 1992 sample:
http://tinyurl.com/nupo5zk
In other words, keeping in mind the 1992 ad you mentioned and the 1993 and
1994 ads I mentioned, including the comment in the May-June 1993 American
Photo ND magazine, it's now more plausible to say that the coded serial
numbers I mentioned for the Rolleiflex 2,8 GX "Helmut Newton" edition
starting with 6 and 7 belong to cameras made in 1991 and 1992 respectively,
they were started to be sold during 1992 in Europe and along 1993 in the
United States. This way, my "special" first digit interpretation for this
"special edition" GX Helmut Newton couldn't be necessary and the first digit
in the coded serial number could be interpreted according the usual and
natural way; the situation is different now because these new sources seem to
support that some cameras from this edition could be made in 1991. I think we
are in peace with the Rollei coded SN system.
Carlos
