[Leica] Leica investment economics - was Financial people in Lug

[robertmeier at usjet.net (Robert Meier)]

There is another factor that has intervened to break the pattern you  
describe:  the digital revolution.  Very few Leica film cameras are  
still made and no other film cameras, at least, the metal, manual,  
mechanical kind.   So there is a finite number of film Leicas and  
their value in the future will grow as the number of people desiring  
them grows.   It's impossible to predict future value, but the new  
circumstances might well mean that their value will increase more  
rapidly than it has in the past.

Robert

On Dec 27, 2010, at 6:05 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> Considering the "end of the world" social and or economic collapse  
> predicted
> in 2012, just how good is the investment value of Leica cameras. At  
> today's
> Leica prices there are only two reasons for buying a new Leica camera
> primarily as an investment, both of them irrational.
>
> First, if you are a camera collector and/or a camera speculator you  
> will buy
> the camera and keep it unused in its original box, expecting that  
> its price
> will increase at some future date. This is a distinct possibility.  
> A new
> unsold 1954 M3 with its original carton and shipping documents  
> which sold
> for about $250 new in a tax free airport shop would probably sell at a
> collector's auction for the price of a small car, an unused urLeica  
> would go
> for the price of a new house.
>
> The price appreciation of most Leicas, however, is a bit less than the
> equivalent amount of money deposited in bank CDs and considerably  
> less than
> funds invested in the stock market. That $250 cost of the Leica in  
> 1954,
> invested in CDs at the average rate of return would have grown to  
> about
> $3250, about the price of a late model used Leica kit. If the Leica  
> purchase
> funds were invested in the stock market at the average annual rate  
> of return
> since 1954, it would have grown to almost $40,000, enough to buy a new
> camera and a BMW to drive it around in. Buying Leicas soley for  
> appreciation
> is simply a variation of the "Greater Fool" theory beloved of stock
> speculators. You may be a fool for paying so much but you hope  
> there is
> always a greater fool who will buy it from you for more.
>
> Second, if you are one of those who have a "best quality" addiction  
> you will
> buy the camera to fondle and possess, secure in the feeling that no  
> one has
> or appreciates quality equipment better than you. For a definition of
> "quality" see Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle  
> Maintenance."
> Take plenty of pictures with the camera. But don't get annoyed by  
> the fact
> that the resulting pictures are almost indistinguishable from those  
> taken
> with lesser cameras like Nikons or Canons. If digital cameras, all  
> will be
> obsolete in a few years anyway and their value will decline  
> precipitously.
>
> So unless you are a camera speculator or a quality addict don't buy  
> a Leica
> for appreciation. Buy a Canon or Nikon. You will get state of the art
> engineering and manufacturing, fine lenses, autofocus and  
> autoexposure at a
> considerable saving over the cost of an equivalent Leica system.  
> Invest the
> money you save to provide a real legacy for your children. Or in a
> collection of fine Scotch potables. Remember that if the Indians  
> who sold
> Niew Amsterdam to the Dutch had invested their $24 properly they  
> could not
> only buy back Manhattan but every bit of developed property from  
> Boston to
> Washington, DC.
>
> Larry Z
>
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