Leica M9 Serial Number Lookup
Julieann Rohde
If I receive the serial number from the seller, is there an online database I can search to make sure 1.) the item is not stolen property and/or 2.) to check the status of the warranty to confirm it is indeed active through 2025? Any advice/tips are appreciated! Thanks!
Ed. Note: This was Leica's first electric motor drive M camera, appearing some 6months before the M4-M. An unknown number of motorized M2's exist, modified by LeitzNY, without the M2-M engraving. Yet, the a motorized M2 was actuallyavailable five years earlier. The 1962 Camcraft N-5 Motor" made by Camcraft ofMadison Wisconsin offered speeds to 3.6 frames per second at speeds from 1/50th to1/1000th. Craftcraft offered to modify the M2, M1, or MP for motor use. It has alarge separate battery pack, connected by coil similar to the separate battery packoriginally used on the Nikon F. A MOOLY like lever on the front on the cameraconnected the shutter release to the motor underneath the camera which was attached to a somewhat awkward vertical style handgrip. Camcraft even offered"remote activating devices" on special order. The motor was $298.50, the battery packs ran from $10.50 to 42.50. The wet cell chargingdevice was $8.95 more. Somewhat later the noted camera repairman andphotographic writer Norman Goldberg invented the "Remodrive"manufactured by TPI (Technical Photomation Instruments) in Los Angeles. Leica liked the Remodrive design so much they bought the rightsand manufactured it themselves, turning it into the M2-M and M4-M motor! Production of the "Camcraft" and "Remodrive" is unknown, but limited.
Ed. Note: Per Nakamura's "Leica Collection," only 137 black MP's from MP13 to MP150 were produced, and only 251 chrome MP's numbered MP151 to MP402respectively. He states production was stopped due to poor sales. Buyerbeware. For every MP that left the factory, there are probably 20 or more beingoffered for sale with the same serial number.
Ed. Note: All M4-M's and M4-MOT's I have seen were black enamel, as opposedto the later black chrome finish. Apparently a good number of these were soldto the US Navy. About half I have seen are former US Navy cameras, usually in beatencondition. Per the Leica Viewfinder, October 1973, 35 M4-MOTs wereconverted to data cameras with a MDa type data strip and the removal of their motorconnection.
Ed. Note: An unknown small number of MDa were factory motorized for the M4-Mmotor using an AC power source. They had both standard "MDa" and"MDa-MOT" engravings. Two examples are illustrated in Nakamura's"Leica Collection." and in Satorious's "Identifying LeicaCameras."
You could check on the white sticker glued on the gray outer protection box (if still available) where there normally are the number and date of fabrication. This gray cardboard box actually protects the maker's box.
The police have a database of stolen equipment they use to investigate pawn shops, so you might be able to inquire with them, at least to see if it was stolen in US. Or, perhaps contact a US dealer with the serial number.
Enter the SN in the equipment section. Back on the main portal page, the contact section will be updated. You could then e-mail the now listed dealer associated with this serial number. That dealer would have probably heard back from a customer if equipment stolen.
I beleive Trimble has the same type of resource, from what I remember when our base was stolen. the post about asking for the serial number is great advice, if legit, the seller should have no trouble sending it to you, and then be sure to follow up with the manufacturer.
You have a high definition pictures of the serial number or do you have to zoom to 400% to make out the number? If SN is clean and defined, I would still double check with the dealer if possible, that might provide you supplementary history of the equipment that you are planning to buy.
Leitz has a long history of detailed record keeping, and throughout this period of their history, each serial number was tracked in ledgers detailing shipment numbers, dates, and (usually) destinations. Although produced in Wetzlar, many cameras left the factory and went straight to agents in Berlin. It was through this documentation kept by Leitz that today we are able to validate a large number, but not all Wehrmacht Leicas. For reasons that we will likely never know, only cameras shipped to the Luftwaffe have detailed records. In addition, later entries from 1943 and 1944 are more erratic and sloppy, perhaps due to disorganization and duress Leitz employees likely suffered near the end of the war, so even with the incredible detail of these records, not every Wehrmacht Leica can be fully verified.
For the more authentic fakes like those made from other Leicas, the best way to identify a fake is by looking for characteristics that were known to exist on other identical ones. Serial numbers are often hard to fake as you need to get the exact number of an actual Wehrmacht Leica from the Leitz ledgers and make sure it is the correct type and with the correct markings.
Entries exist in Leitz ledgers from 1939 through 1944 for the Luftwaffe. Luftwaffe Leicas were created out of five different models, the Leica III, IIIa, IIIb IIIc and IIIcK. Getting an exact number of how many were shipped is impossible, but here are the estimations of how many were shipped and how many are known to still exist today:
Germany famously attacked Britain in July 1940 using Luftwaffe fighters and bombers and it can be assumed that many of the early III and IIIb models were on board those aircraft during those period suggesting that probably a large number of them were lost during this time.
There exist Leica bodies and lenses with a Heer engraving on the top plate in the same location as the Flieger number on Luftwaffe Leicas, and in many of the known examples, the serial numbers match the same time periods in which cameras were shipped to the Luftwaffe, so there is a chance these are genuine.
Leica IIIb #346625 was easy to identify as a genuine Luftwaffe Leica not just because the serial number matched a known batch of cameras shipped to the Luftwaffe in February 1940, but it was in such good condition, the rest of the provenance was easy to prove.
Although the company origins trace back to 1849, the real history of Leica cameras began when Oscar Barnack appeared at the Ernst Leitz Company offices in 1911 with his idea for a small 35mm camera. The first Leitz camera was produced in 1925. In 1988, the company split into several smaller companies, with Leica Camera GmbH taking over the manufacturing of cameras.
Detailed information about Leica (serial numbers, lens types, history etc) is available at CameraQuest and Pacific Rim Cameras web-sites.
If you are looking for the lens prices, check the Leica Lens Price Guide, or use M39 search to find other lenses manufactured with Leica screw mount.