Page 20 - A40

Leica 16

prototypes and

design studies

After the commercial success of the Leica M3, Leitz began to research
and develop different kinds of cameras. One of the projects was a
high-quality ultra-compact camera for 16 mm film. Numerous prototypes
and design studies have made in 1959.

Despite the project being in an advanced stage, the research was
stopped and development cancelled after only one complete camera
was made. The lot offered here is an amazing collection of artifacts
concerning the mystical Leica 16.

It includes two wooden dummies (both already equipped with high
quality finders), three various forms of the chassis, two aluminium hous-
ings, two top plates, two shutter prototypes, an interesting model of
retracting lens (with optics), etc. Included in the lot is also a large folder
including a collection of original blueprints and parts lists for the Leica
16, three beautiful, hand-drawn large format parchment blueprints, as
well as several hand drawings from the early stages of development.

Many parts of this amazing historical outfit were shown and described
in detail in Vidom 122 on pages 16-39 (copy included with the lot).
It is one of the most exciting discoveries from the history of Leica.

Start price € 50.000
est. € 100.000 – 150.000
Year of production: 1959