LOMO LC-A / Communist Party Congress XXVII

Just FYI my camera is 1986, and I think, Bill, you wrote a description in this entry that an authentic camera starts with 85xxxx, well mine seems authentic in all other aspects except it seems to be made same year as the CPSU Congress in 1986.. I guess it's from the later batch.. I can post pics of it if needed.

Vlad

Hi Vlad,
I'm sure yours is authentic too. Probably they are made from stock that had 1985 and 1986 serial numbers since the CPSU Congress was the end of Feb. to end of March. really I just meant that if you find one with a later year indicated than 1986 it might not be right ... but I can't say that I've ever seen a fake of this particular camera, with this particular badge on the top.

Regards, Bill

Hi,

To say the truth, it's my very first time to meet this commemorative camera with "86" date prefix indeed ... All previous cameras I have met had "85" serials for sure. Vlad, thanks for sharing your information with us! I'm absolutely sure, that your camera is an authentic one, if it's identical to Bill's camera, except of year ...

Best Regards,
Aidas

I will post detailed pictures in next few days.

Hi al...
mine too , is a 85, (and the owner's manual have pictures showing this badged camera (that's just for info...;-)

Alain is right! The manual guide of mine LC-A Sjezd XXVII is also showing camera with commemorative plaque on it!

Best Regards,
Aidas

Ok, I am starting to get a little concerned about authenticity of most of these cameras.. I know there were only 6000 made of these but these keep showing up almost every other week on eBay and elsewhere... by all parameters they seem legit - the year, the correct badge.. but it seems like there are just way too many "Real" ones floating around... and with the latest wave of "new" LC-A cameras (refurbed and prettied up at LOMO factory itself), this is a bit unsettling.. I'm almost afraid to say it, but I have a hint of suspicion that these are still currently being cranked out there to this day... no basis, pure speculation, just a gut feeling seeing the market for these cameras.. does anyone else share my concern?

Vlad

Vlad,
Of course they may not be hard to fake, or be made again as refurbished cameras at LOMO with the addition of new silkscreening, however, the serial numbers on authentic ones should be similar to the ones listed in the WIKI (with "85" or "86" at the begining of the number.

Also even if 6000 were made, that is quite a few and because the LOMO LC-A has been an expensive camera due to LOMOGRAPHY, I think it is possible that they show up quite a bit. Many collectors of FSU cameras have not collected these due to high prices and the preferences for other rangefinder and SLR styles (metal cameras). Yes, Smenas are plastic and get collected a lot, but they are relatively inexpensive, whereas the LC-A has always been expensive.

Check your serial numbers of one being offered.

Regards, Bill

Smenas inexpensive? That is what I thought in the beginning...

Best regards,
Juhani

Vlad,
I didn't realize that this was the Congress camera with the badge on the top instead of the other one with silk screened logo. I think it would be difficult to make this metal badge on the top. It seems to be metal with enameling and I'm not sure that LOMO would want to be reproducing those badges again. So I think they are not fakes ... in other words, I don't think that there are fakes of this camera.

Zorki-2 with 10,000 units made shows up about the same amount and even the Zenit-6 with 9,000 units made shows up often. And these LOMOs are newer, with probably less of them lost or broken.

Only two of these cameras are on Ebay now. There are 3 zorki-2 cameras on Ebay now.

Regards, Bill

Bill you're maybe right, but I still do see way more of these LC-As than Zorki-2.. actually it's just now that there are 3 of them listed, it's way less usually.. sometimes none.. maybe it's the same with LC-As now, because I have 2 different people offering them to me offline as well in addition to the ones on eBay.. just feels off..

Vlad.

Vlad,
I don't think you can just judge authenticity by the amount available at one time. Just three years ago there were many Zorki-2 cameras being offered all the time. It is just in the past 2 years that you don't see them too much ... because they have been collected up. Same with many other "scarce" cameras that were made in amounts of 2,500 - 10,000.

In this case, with these LC-A cameras, there would no doubt be some differences in the way the enameled badge looks under close examination between an example of the original 6,000 (which is a lot of cameras and only about 20 years old, compared to Zorki-2 which is almost 60 years old)and any new production. I would say, if no differences can be seen and the serial number is in the right range, then they are probably authentic. Maybe if there were all of a sudden 10 on Ebay at once, then the cameras should be compared to the ones that were bought by collectors earlier. Also since they are just 23 years old, they are still coming out of houses and estates in Russia and other FSU countries, where older cameras are probably drying up as far as fresh to the market examples (but not completely died up!).

Just my opinion from watching Ebay and getting offers privately from Russian dealers for the past six years. I bought mine about 5 years ago if you need close-up photos to compare.

Regards, Bill