Leitz Auction
Starting Price €6,000
Total bids: 0
Estimate
€12,000 – 14,000
€12,000 – 14,000
This item is subject to VAT at the statutory rate of the respective country of destination on hammer price and premium (full taxation), provided it remains in the EU
serial number
57126053
Condition
A/B
Manufacture Year
1957
Product number
A03960
A very interesting and exceptionally rare early GOI OB173 3.5/65mm wide-angle prototype, developed in 1957 for the Soviet Salut 6 × 6cm medium-format camera.
The OB173 represents the prototype stage of what subsequently became the MIR-3 3.5/65mm, later manufactured by Zavod Arsenal in Kiev as the wide-angle lens for the Salut and subsequent Kiev medium-format camera systems. The prototype is fitted with a non-standard M48 mount, apparently intended for testing purposes, rather than the later production camera mount.
The offered prototype, Lens No. 57126053, is preserved in beautiful, almost mint condition, with clean optics, and comes complete with its matching original caps and original factory wooden box bearing the matching serial number.
Of particular interest, the immediately preceding OB173 prototype, Lens No. 57126052, likewise dating from 1957 and accompanied by its matching wooden box, was sold at the 41st Leitz Photographica Auction.
An exceptionally rare surviving prototype documenting the early development of one of the principal wide-angle lenses for the Soviet 6 × 6cm system.
The OB173 represents the prototype stage of what subsequently became the MIR-3 3.5/65mm, later manufactured by Zavod Arsenal in Kiev as the wide-angle lens for the Salut and subsequent Kiev medium-format camera systems. The prototype is fitted with a non-standard M48 mount, apparently intended for testing purposes, rather than the later production camera mount.
The offered prototype, Lens No. 57126053, is preserved in beautiful, almost mint condition, with clean optics, and comes complete with its matching original caps and original factory wooden box bearing the matching serial number.
Of particular interest, the immediately preceding OB173 prototype, Lens No. 57126052, likewise dating from 1957 and accompanied by its matching wooden box, was sold at the 41st Leitz Photographica Auction.
An exceptionally rare surviving prototype documenting the early development of one of the principal wide-angle lenses for the Soviet 6 × 6cm system.