The weird hammer-and-sickle FED

Hello,

I recently showed a photo of the Hammer-and-Sickle FED No. 3214. I was wondering why the shutter curtains were faulty – after all, I’ve had it for 15 years.
So I took it apart to repair it.



When I took the cover off, what on earth was that? A Zorki cover! The ‘Zorki’ lettering had been stamped out and sanded down at the top.



If you look closely at the top, you can still make out a sort of shadow of the ‘Zorki’ lettering.



It is also strange that some parts were numbered. The shutter box and the housing have a ‘74’ scratched into them, and on the top, the ‘74’ has even been stamped in.







The date scratched into the side of the case is also still visible, but in an unusual format: 7 - 8 - 5. Could this perhaps be 7 August 1955?



Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

And this is the result after reassembling it all :-)


Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Interesting!It looks (a bit!) like the very early Kievs with Contax still stamped on the reverse of the front plate!
For you, the mechanism belongs to a Fed or a Zorki?

Amitiés. Jacques.

Jacques,
that was my first thought, too (Contax - Kiev) :-)
The camera is definitely a FED; only the top cover was taken from a Zorki.
I'm wondering what the “7 - 8 - 5” means. If it's 1955, then it would be a FED 1f or 1g; or maybe 1945.

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de