Imagine unwittingly spending $15 at a garage sale on an old camera body and a couple of lenses and later discovering that you’ve bought some Leica gear that’s worth more than seven thousand dollars.
Tyler, a 16-year-old from Detroit, Michigan has long wanted to start photography and decide to see what he could find at a local garage sale. Spotting a Kodak 35 and vaguely recognizing the name, he bought it for $3, overlooking the “fancy” looking camera sitting next to it. Mentioning this Leica to a friend who pointed out that it might be a bargain, he decided to return and, having $15 in his pocket, negotiated himself quite a deal.
The teenager told PetaPixel that his mom was angry that he’d randomly bought two cameras and still had no idea the value of what he had just purchased. It wasn’t until he posted to a Facebook group that he suddenly discovered that the late 1960s Leica M4 he’d just bought lists on eBay for around $3,000. The 35mm f/2 Summicron, 50mm f/2 Summicron, and 9cm f/4 Elmar lenses along with a few other items brought the total value to more than $7,000.
Tyler is now looking into getting the gear cleaned, lubricated, and adjusted, and plans to return to the church in order to pay a little more money.
Lead image by Christopher Robin Roberts and used under CC 2.0.
Going back to the church and give them more money is a noble thing to do!