Yes, John has it right. Many, and I do mean many- companies in several
countries made copies. Some did it fully knowing they were ripping off Leitz,
but many also believed the patents were automatically lost after Germany was
defeated in WWII. These _used to be_ available at a fraction of the cost of
the genuine article, and many were not badly made, but it now seems they've
taken on a mystical value of their own. I guess the world has gone nuts with
the need to collect old things. Just look at the $327 Brownie camera we saw
yesterday on EBay.
George S.
jahudson@xxxxxxx writes:
> Skip ....... there are any number of copies of Leica rangefinders. Ten
> years or so ago Leica Fotografie magazine had a lengthy series of
> articles about fake Leicas. Nikon and Canon got into the act as well as
> the Russians and Chinese. I don't know if Red Flag is the only copier of
> M models but I do know that perhaps the very finest fakes were made by
> Reid in the UK and from what I have read the Reids were pretty close to
> the originals in terms of build quality. Why anyone would want a Chinese
> made look a like I can't imagine.
>
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