Missing Fed 1s !

Hello,

Always questions about Fed 1s...
What about the 1s between # c184000 and c206000?
I certainly never saw one, if I except some very rare NKAP/Red Flag between 200000 and 201800. And the cameras till # 220000 are not so common.
Near 20000 camera lost, it's too much even in relation with the 712000 (or some) cameras made...
An explanation: the factory renumbered from 200000 after WW2, and probably in 1947, after having made the Berdsk.

OK.

I noticed that some Leica fakes -those visibly made from 1d or 1f: no difference between the two except the release button- often have numbers between 190000 and 210000. Just the numbers where it's almost impossible to find a Fed!

Coincidence? Of course!
But where are exactly the missing Feds?

Your opinion?

Amicalement. Jacques.
PS: of course, these numbers correspond to 1936 true genuine Leica IIs!

I am very curious to which Leica copies are you referring to... the old ones or the modern ones? Because if it's the old ones, it's possible that the missing serial FEDs were manufactured just for this particular reason - to make fake Leicas to be sold outside of USSR in effort to saturate the market with fakes and destabilize the western economy. I have heard this theory somewhere from someone...

Vlad

quote:

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Originally posted by Vlad

I am very curious to which Leica copies are you referring to... the old ones or the modern ones? Because if it's the old ones, it's possible that the missing serial FEDs were manufactured just for this particular reason - to make fake Leicas to be sold outside of USSR in effort to saturate the market with fakes and destabilize the western economy. I have heard this theory somewhere from someone...

Vlad

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It`s hard for me to to imagine that fake camera sales would ever destabilize any western economy .
John

Hi Vlad,
I'm referring to the old ones, the ones with a Leica like release button.
Really thanks for the theory that I didn't know. It would explain why it's impossible to find a Fed in those numbers. I was not too far with my joke (but it was not only a joke!).

Amitiйs. Jacques.

quote:

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Originally posted by Vlad

I am very curious to which Leica copies are you referring to... the old ones or the modern ones? Because if it's the old ones, it's possible that the missing serial FEDs were manufactured just for this particular reason - to make fake Leicas to be sold outside of USSR in effort to saturate the market with fakes and destabilize the western economy. I have heard this theory somewhere from someone...

Vlad

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Vlad
Very improbable theory...

As I said something I heard, most likely not true .

Also another theory I heard that they made in the old days Feicas so KGB or other Soviet agents abroad could use their FEDs to photograph their subjects without raising any suspicions of why they use Soviet cameras... which I'm also somewhat skeptical about... sounds like a tale the sellers tell to sell the fake Leicas :) Any time you attach a word "KGB" to a camera it triples in price.

Vlad.

On my Feica n° 199132 (Fed 1d or f), I have a fake Summar (n° 690233) true 2/50 Fed (n° 21488).
Then, I'm rich?

Amitiйs. Jacques.

It depends if you claim that it was used by KGB

Well...
What about the original question: where are hidden Fed 1 between c.184000 and c.210000?
Do you own, have you seen one of them?

Thanks. Jacques.

Jacques,
I think it may be as you say .... after the war, starting with NKAP, they started at 200,000. So, no units after last Berdsk and that.

Then, after KNAP, maybe there was some political change in the management of FED (which caused them to drop the KNAP logo), and which may have been that the factory was no longer part of the Peoples Commissariat of the Aeronautical Industry (KNAP) and became independent of the military, they started with a new group of serial numbers, maybe for example 210,000, to differentiate the different productions.

The missing groups seem to be when there was a major physical or political management change at the factory. Also, after KNAP model, there were major improvements in finish and quality as the manufacturing equipment was added and improved and the quality control got back to normal after the war confusion, disruption and disarray.

Just my best guess from reading the histories of FED and knowing these models.

Regards, Bill