A Kiev 1950 "no name"?

It would have been a big news!





On the seller's photos, there were different details which showed that this camera had Contax parts, which is always interesting. And about the "no name" front plate, the cut for the tripos socket was clearly visible:

Thank you Jacques! yes most definitely the front plate is from the no-name 4a as the cut indicates. I believe I've seen this one for sale . Decided to pass on it just for this reason.

Best regards,
Vlad

So, I bought it, mainly because I had spare parts of my 1950 Kiev, including a correct front plate.
The partial taking to pieces was easy, and showed that the camera was mainly made of Contax parts: mechanism, curtains, viewfinder/rangefinder ...

... the casting and some external details.

Specially for Vlad : the cut on the front plate (a bit blurred)



And a blue name behind the upper plate: probably a signature?

Thanks for your comment, Vlad.
I must say that I much prefer cameras which put questions to their owners... It's the case for this one.
By whom and when was it mounted? Impossible to say. There is no marking inside; specially the Kiev number engraved near the finder is absent. No Contax engraving, either. This camera is blind, if I except the blue signature.

Perhaps an illegal mounting with spare parts in 1950? The no name front plate would have been added later, to fool a buyer?

I would be happy about comments.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Thank you Jacques! very interesting! It is indeed probably technician's signature on the inside! No name plate it's either to fool a buyer or as a repair but it had to be outside of USSR since these plates were exported. It was noticeable right away that the front cover was taken off because the leather was peeling off on the "bump" in the corner. Number 1 sign of tampering with Kievs .

Сheers,
Vlad

just a hint: the blue inscription, to me it's german and says "Verbesserung" which is improvement in english. whatever this means...

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu www.135compact.com www.oddcameras.com

Hello Xya

The second letter could be an "E" or an "O" and the next one a "B" but the "R" is missing. The last letter may be a "G" but for me it looks more like a "Z". Just my 2 cents.

Best wishes - Guido

it seems to be this handwriting quite common before and just after WWII in germany, a mixture between latin and german (Sьtterlin) letters. yes, it could also be an "o", but it seems to me, that someone writing an "e" got stuck in the 3 lttle grooves and so lost the "r" in the grooves. he started with the "b" again. the end could be as well a "g" as a "z", you are right...

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu www.135compact.com www.oddcameras.com

Thanks, Reinhard and Guido for your efforts. The idea of "Verbesserung" is interesting... A pity we cannot be sure of the translation.

I had forgotten the bayonet mount:



Number on the right lower corner + flat top on "3" on the distance scale = Dresden Contax style, once more, by Sasaki's book. Not completely exceptional for a 1950 Kiev II, but at least interesting.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Jacques, I also own such a 1950 Kiev with a lot of Contax parts. On my front mask is the cyrillic and latin name engraved (not stamped). These cameras are rare, on ebay is or was also one for sale, the seller wants to have about 900 Euros.
Altix and I inspected my 1950 Kiev. He told me that these cameras were made in 1947 and that it could be that they were used for assembly training in the Kiev factory. 3 years later they have been engraved with a serial number and were sold.

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

wow it looks like something in Russian to me that I could not read, didn't even think it was German! . Ulrich, i also heard of a common practice in USSR of technicians to take parts home and then assemble a working camera for themselves... this may be this case..

Best regards,
Vlad