billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Another expensive paper weight.

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

Value is also what it's worth to the beholder!

rfreudenheim

trackmag

Love the "ice box" comment.

Wish I had kept every camera I ever owned.

Read in WSJ that a 1955 Mercedes SL brought $142,000,000 at auction last week. I have a 1986 SL that still works pretty good but I don't think it will ever be worth $142,000,000. And I really don't think that Yashica that I bought in the ship's store on the USS Newport News CA-148 in the 1960's will ever be worth what that Leica is worth.

Think I will go to the ice box and see if I have any beer.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

In 2008 a lens HOOD for a 21mm Nikon rangefinder lens sold on ebay for $5,555.00 in what was later reported to be a bidding war between the two of the best known Nikon collectors in Japan. Only about 10 of the hoods were known to exist, and this one was in mint condition with its original box in excellent condition. When it's the last item you need to complete your collection . . .

philo Loc: philo, ca

I would sell my M3 for a lot less.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Exactly.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

That particular car was one of only two specially built sports-racing hardtop (gullwing) versions of the 300SLR open top/open wheel Grand Prix race cars that Mercedes was successfully campaigning at the time. Neither of the hardtops had ever been sold, but were extensively tested on road and track over the years. When not being exhibited (and test driven) around the world they were kept in the Mercedes factory collection, until this particular one was sold to raise money for a Mercedes charity project. As a factory car the buyer (anonymous, but reputedly a prominent British collector) presumably became the "original owner" of what will be the only privately owned example of a unique variant of the racing version of one of the most iconic vehicles in automotive history. If you're a car collector who can afford it, that's an item that is practically impossible to resist.

And in case you're wondering, it's a RACE car. It can, and has been, driven on public roads (with the right gears it averaged 176 MPH in a 2-way run on the Autobahn in 1956, probably the fastest road-legal car in the world at the time.) But . . . the clutch and drive shaft are offset to the driver side, and push the brake and accelerator pedals to the right, requiring the driver to basically straddle the drive shaft. Which also ends up reducing passenger foot space. It is reported to be most comfortable to drive wearing ear plugs. And, it has no trunk - just a 45 gallon gas tank. There are also no spare parts available for it, although if you can afford the car you can afford to have parts made, if necessary.

sheldon minsky Loc: iron mountain michigan

Proving that for every pair of pants there is an ass.

trackmag

Thanks for the additional info.
I love my 1986 560 SL and can not imagine parting with it. Though I put only 400-500 miles a year on it, running some 80 to 120 mph across 23 miles of hills and curves between my place and the golf course.
Some 30 years ago I was driving it across the Texas plains wide open when a cop stopped me and asked how fast the car would run. My reply was something like, "I don't know. I was too busy watching the road to look at the speedometer. He asked me if he I could drive it, to which I replied, "Of course, right now you can do anything you like." He left me in his squad car and came back 20 minutes later and said, "That sucker can really run and handles so good at that speed." He parted with a goodbye and said, "This never happened."
A mate of mine in high school (1958-1961) had one of those gull wing jobs and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Again, thanks for the info. It was a great story in the WSJ and your edition makes it even better.

dpcarriere

It's all relative, all relative indeed.

With $100 in your pocket 10 cents becomes easy to burn.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I did say that many collectors are insane. For that kida money, I could go to a metal or plastics fabricator and have them produced in quantity and sell f the for 1/2 price.

I remember when there were a number of "blue books" published that purported to list the values of all collectable cameras. T In someof the books, the prices seemed a bit low and it turned out that the book was published by collectors who wanted to buy below the rea going value.

I am not and was never a collector. The only experience I had was with an interesting old studio camera, on a massive stand, that I picked up at a government surplus auction. It had a film or plate compartment that looked like the cover of a roll-top desk. It was crafted like a beautiful piece of furniture! The ground glass size was around 11x14. It was in absolutely perfect condition. It had a very impressive brass barrel lens with Waterhouse stops. There was no name or insigna anywhere on the body or the stand. I displayed it in my studio storefront window for 10 years- a conversation piece. . One the day, a crazy collector came in for a visit. He owned a photographic distributorship, herein Canada. Crazy, was not the word- he purchased what was left of Peerless Camera in New York and that did not work out well. Nonetheless, he paid me $10,000 for the old camera. I was like the guy who went to the racetrack for the very first time, bet big and scored a fortune but never went back for fear he wouid become a gambling degenerate.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Not interested. I already have a Leica.
--Bob

10MPlayer Loc: California

Ego? How about owning an important piece of history? I own a musical instrument I paid more for than it's worth, nothing ridiculous like seven figures, more like low four, but I didnt' buy it because it's a great instrument or sounds amazing but because it's a rare piece of history. Some folks like to preserve pieces of the past. Some like to mount trophies on the wall. It's a harmless hobby. To each his own.

MDI Mainer

It seems to me in an ideal world this camera deserves to be in a museum accessible to all, not in a private collection. Perhaps someone will buy and either loan or gift it.