A camera store in New Zealand has had the enviable task of sorting through a huge collection of film cameras – including rare Leica and Zeiss models.
Photo & Video International, based in Christchurch in the South Island, has described the haul as “The Best Collection Ever”.
The haul is part of a lifetime’s collection of cameras and many are not thought to have been used. The collection even made NZ’s national television news when it was unveiled earlier this month.
Photo & Video International’s Greg Bramwell says the 500 items should end up making for than NZ$500,000 (£230,000/$300,000).
Bramwell has started listing the remaining cameras and accessories on the shop’s website, but many items sold after he published a list of the collector’s items.
Bramwell told Kosmo Foto: “I have known about it for 40+ years, this client has been buying gear off me and not trading/ selling anything, so I knew it was ‘growing’.”
Bramwell said there were “420 major items, no bad stuff, he has great taste. But, if you include the hoods, filters, adapters etc it is thousands of items.”
The collection includes a Zeiss Hologon wide-angle camera, a limited-edition soft black paint Leica M6 Millennium Edition with a 50mm Summilux, and a professional version of the Zeiss Contarex.
There are a number of limited-edition gold-plated cameras, including a gold Alpa 11si and a gold Leica R3 SLR, complete with a gold 50/1.4 lens. More of the cameras will be added to this shop here.
The collection also included a Contax T2 with a serial number “NZ1”. Bramwell told TVNZ’s Seven Sharp that he had had the camera inscribed with the serial number by the manufacturer when the collector bought it back in the 1990s.
It may be surprising to find so many high-end cameras – including classic German models – in New Zealand, but Bramwell said: “You would be surprised what is in NZ. I have another collection coming with almost as much gear, less variety but very high value.”
Bramwell told Kosmo Foto that items had already sold to customers as far away as Germany and that he expected more international interest as news of the collection spreads.
Bramwell said he has kept one item – a gold-plated Minolta CLE, one of only 300 made in 1984 to celebrate Minolta’s 30-millionth film camera.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
Your picture of the “Tessina” actually shows a Compass camera.
It does indeed! Thanks