Rare and Beautiful

Rare and Beautiful

Kugellager Leica
(Kaltefest) Special Ball Bearing Shutter Camera
Model: 1943 Leica IIIC K Grey Camera
Camera: Sony CD 500

Here`s my ALL ORIGINAL 1943 Leica IIIC K Grey Paint camera
which was delivered to Berlin together with the Summitar lens on
7.5.43
for Civilian/Industrial service -
(this camera has been 100% verified by Leica Historian Jim Lager)

The camera was captured by an American Soldier of the 9th Armoured Division somewhere near Frankfurt in early1945

This solider later became a Press Journalist/Photographer for the
BLACK STAR Agency in New York City where the camera was used in the late 1940`s and early 1950`s in everyday work

Handled down three generations, I just bought this camera from that solider`s brother`s New York estate

A CLA and full breakdown documentation is to be recorded for a up coming book
I`ll be writing together with a friend about Leica`s, this camera WILL be USED and loaded with film regularly and not be a shelf queen collectable

I cannot wait for my first photoshoot with the camera, I`m sure it will be just amazing! -

***Just a brief history of the IIIC K***

The quality and precision of which the "wartime" era Leica`s are known for is very evident in this model, despite extreme wartime rationing and supply problems at the height of Leitz`s WW2 production the IIIC K evolved into a "prototype" of sorts for the German Military services, mostly Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht, used for high altitude and cold weather operations

The camera was conceived on new production ideas stemming mostly from the failure of the earlier Leica`s in the Norwegian winters, (mostly failed frozen shutters/delay problems with the shutter speed settings)

*Please Note: These cameras were devised after the Norwegian campaign, upon suggestion that the cameras need work better under severe cold weather conditions, but the "heresay" that these cameras were specially made for
Operation Barbarossa *Russia*
as some historians have mentioned, is`nt true,
the Russian operations were well underway, before Leitz had any IIIC K`s ever built*

On the IIIC K the shutters were operated with various Ball Bearings and had a better lubrication than used in normal cameras (I think Whale Oil?)
the ideas learned from the IIIC K paved the way for the famous Leica IIIF and Leica M3 in the 1950`s

These special cameras produced in both satin chrome (very rare) and RLM Luftwaffe Grey and were pressed into limited Military and Civilian service from late 1942 to May 1945 and then a very small postwar production was also made directly for the
US Army up until 1946

The Leica IIIC K now is one of the most sought after collectable Leicas in history and also one of my personal favorite cameras to work with
I`m one of the few Photographers in the world who are STILL working with one
(this is the second IIIC K that I`ve owned and worked with in the past year)

*Please note the camera`s serial number has been censored for online security reasons*