Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Fascinating, thanks. The table is quite legible. So, the half-car price analogy is valuable. But dig this one. I just found an article from a 1955 Dartmouth campus newspaper announcing that tuition (plus fees) would rise in 1956 at Dartmouth as it had at Princeton and Yale from $800 to $980. So back then an M3 was half the price of a new car. An M3 with summicron lens was about half a year's tuition inthe Ivy League. And now a Leica M9 and Summicron lens would be between 10000 and 12,000; a new car decently appointed family car about $24,000 on average; and Ivy League tuition is now $50,000. Ivy League tuition doubled in equivalent dollars over the next 20 years; so that in 1975 when I started at Columbia it was $3400 but if it had stayed only at inflation it should have been about half that. Adjusted for inflation 1955's M3/summicron would by 75 have been about $950. I wonder what an M5 with Summicron was by then? My mother bought a new Ford Fairlane around 1970 for $2400 so I'm betting it was $3000 at least. More on this as I work out what it is I'm thinking about.... Thanks to all for comments. On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 1:52 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net>wrote: > Vince, > > I have the November 1955 Leica Product Directory. > > Catalog Code > Number Word Item Retail Price > ****** ****** ******************************** ******** > 10,150 IGEMO Leica M 3 without lens $288.00 > 10,155 IMARO Leica M 3 with 50mm Elmar f/3.5 lens 348.00 > 10,161 ISUMO Leica M 3 with 50mm Summicron f/2 lens > 447.00 > 10,165 ISAIO Leica M 3 with 50mm Summarit f/1.5 lens 468.00 > > Ask about any other items from this catalog that you might like for your > collection, and I will be happy to look them up for you. > > Jim Nichols > Tullahoma, TN USA > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vince Passaro" < > passaro.vince at gmail.com> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> > Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 12:31 PM > Subject: Re: [Leica] Question 2 this evening: historical prices > > > > Doug many thanks this has been helpful. I assume you're working off your >> own >> memory/records of your purchases? What does IIRC mean? And NOS? >> >> >> On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 9:33 AM, Doug Herr <wildlightphoto at >> earthlink.net >> >wrote: >> >> Vince Passaro wrote: >>> >>> >I'm looking for actual at-the-time they were marketed dollar prices for >>> >certain historical cameras, for a couple of academic reasons. Does >>> >anyone >>> >have a source/sources? For instance I would love to know M3 prices >>> >through >>> >the 1950s; Nikon F prices 1959 to, say, 1980; Leica prices in the 1970s. >>> > >>> >Any suggestions will be much appreciated. >>> >>> IIRC a Nikon F in 1972 or so was US$310. NOS Leicaflex SL in 1979 was >>> US$510. >>> >>> Doug Herr >>> Birdman of Sacramento >>> http://www.wildlightphoto.com >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >