[rollei_list] Collecting: (was Rolleiflex 2.8GX Japan Edition)
- From: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:30:25 -0500
At 10:58 PM 3/9/2012, Kirk Thompson wrote:
Thank you, Marc! Though I seem to have too many Rolleis now, I know
nothing about collecting and didn't know where collectors focus
their attention.
I thought the gaudy models were in demand, but only on the basis of
one example: A colleague who kept Leicas in his study in glass
cases showed me his military models and especially his Luxus, which
he had liberated (or is the right word 'stolen'?) while serving in
WWII. He seemed to think the Luxus was his prize.
An old story about collecting: Does anyone remember Don Chatterton,
one of the first to export used German cameras from US to Asia, for
collectors? He used to write for Shutterbug and lived not far from
me. In about 1980 I wanted a view camera and offered him a
RolleiWide and a Leica Model A to finance it. I'd bought them in
Switzerland and had them factory-CLA'd. I believe he gave me $900
for each (or would it have been both?). He then wrote an article
for Shutterbug about the Model A, which in the '30s had been
factory-upgraded with a rangefinder, but with the original serial
number re-engraved on the new top plate. In the article he claimed
that there were already too many old Leica A's out there, and the
next level of collecting should be those with factory mods.
I don't think this idea went over very well in the collecting world?
Kirk
I knew of Don Chatterton but do not recall ever having any direct
contact with him. I also knew a Don Chatterton who was a Sergeant in
the Army, but he was a Geordie immigrant and was certainly not the same person.
Collectors are collectors. They collect the most oddball of items --
there are probably collectors of toilet flushing balls out there,
somewhere. Folks collect everything. I happen to accumulate cameras
and accessories which suit me. Back in the day, when film was still
available and I had a dark room, I used all of my cameras and
insisted that they be in working condition (I do have a non-working
Praktica FX-3, but, then, that is a project I have had on my agenda
to tackle for twenty years). I have picked up all sorts of oddball
bits and pieces over the years but, other than Contaflex SLR, I have
never tried to accumulate most of the line, as I have always
approached it from the angle of 'what can I use?' So, I keep my
Kilfitt lenses as they can be used on my Canon Digital Rebel, and I
keep my macro lenses, as I can use them with the Hasselblad Bellows
on the same camera, with adapters, of course, but that is the way my
convoluted mind works. Helll, I can use all of my M42 lenses on my
digital camera, and I own a LOT of M42 gear!
It is time for me to sell off everything and to quit playing cameras,
I suspect. I am bursting with useless knowledge, of worth to few
outside of the confines of this List <he grins> and, as Greta keeps
telling us, 'my head will explode'. I really do love the Rollei
system though I have never been a collector. Many of the versions of
the Rollei TLR cameras have passed through my hands over the
years. I have ended up keeping a Post-War Automat, Type 3, and a
Rolleicord III, and a 2.8F and a 2.8GX, along with a bunch of
accessories such as a Magnar and a Duoflex and both of the later CZ
Mutars. And Proxars and filters and hoods and all sorts of
things. I have a Prewar 3.5 Baby Black and a Postwar Baby Grey, and,
yes, 127 film is still available. But, elegant as the Rollei System
is, it is probably time for me to close station and to fold my tent
and to wander off to the horizon, muttering strange mantras about
'Decamired Filters' and the like.
I am embarrassed to acknowledge that film is now a niche product and
so the accumulation of cameras will now be one for collectors and not
for users. I guess that is why I suspect that it is time for me to
check out. When I was in my tweneties, I could keep a number of
foreign cars running well while serving as an Army officer. I am now
62, and the energy is sapping away. I look at my accumulation of
camera gear, some worthy of merit (I own some Zeiss one-offs and a
weird Leitz 26mm Photar, for instance), and I think to myself,
'myself, your wife does not want to dispose of this and your son
lives a world away, in Alaska, so what to do?
Idle thoughts for the middle of the night. The witching hour. This
is a grand List with grand folks on it. Thank you all for being here.
Marc
It is a good world for doing good deeds.
-- Nathaniel the Faun
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