Re: [Leica] Leica] Washington DC Shops?

["Steve LeHuray" <icommag@toad.net>]

>  "Robert D. Baron" wrote:
> 
> Are there any shops in the Washington DC metropolitan area that have
> decent selections of (and prices for) used M bodies and lenses, as do
> Ken Hansen and Tamarkin in New York City?
>
> In a word, no. ProPhoto 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 202-223-1292 has one
> or two bodies and sometimes some lenses. I just got my Heliar from them,
> and they have some other Voigtlaender and Contax, but they are still
> very small compared with NY.
>
> I think we suffer from being a bit too close to the Big Apple.
>
> Simon Stevens
> Washington, DC
>

Which is all very curious about the lack of Leica presence when you consider
the huge (news, government, corporate and commercial) amount of photography
that goes on in DC. But, I do occasionally see used Leica stuff at Penn
Camera in Rockville. About a month ago they had a mint M4 for $2500. Last
year I bought my user 111G there for a reasonable price. And, last winter I
was in there buying film and some old guy (turns out he is a Doctor at NIH)
brought in a really wretched looking leather camera bag and inside was a M2
and 3 chrome lenses. He wanted to trade it all for something modern. But the
camera and lenses were all funky and dirty and Penn was not interested in
taking them as a trade. Since I was standing there I asked the Doctor if I
could look. The foam from the camera bag had been disintegrating and that is
why the Leica gear looked so bad. I could see that the M2 was in perfect
shape, with not a scratch, under the dirt. I asked the Doctor how much he
wanted for the lot, but he did not have any idea of their worth, he just
wanted to get rid of them. So I offered him $600 on the spot (I know it
would have been theivery, Penn probably would have given him a $100). He
said he wanted to go to another camera store or two. So I gave him my card
and asked him to call me and I would buy them. Stupidly I did not get his
phone number and never heard from him. I wonder to this day if he traded
them in at Ritz or some such place for practically nothing.

Steve
Annapolis