Could someone kindly provide me with a website address that I've mislaid? It lists Leica lens serial numbers, production numbers and year of manufacture.

Thanx in advanc

-- Dr Allan Dodds (ag.dodds@ntlworld.com), July 18, 2001

Answers

Dr. Dodds, there are a couple of sites that have that info, but they are not handy to me at the moment. However, our always cheerful Leica expert John Collier emailed me the following list, and I have kept it handy in my "important information" box. I'm sure I refer to it several times a day:

Lens serial number source: Identifying Leica Lenses, Ghester Sartorius, 1999, ISBN 0-8174-4027-5

156 001 - 195 000 1933 195 001 - 236 000 1934 236 001 - 284 600 1935 284 601 - 345 000 1936 345 001 - 416 500 1937 416 501 - 490 000 1938 490 001 - 538 500 1939 538 501 - 565 000 1940 565 001 - 582 294 1941 582 295 - 593 000 1942 593 001 - 594 880 1943 594 881 - 595 000 1944 595 001 - 601 000 1945 601 001 - 633 000 1946 633 001 - 647 000 1947 647 001 - 682 000 1948 682 001 - 756 000 1949 756 001 - 840 000 1950 840 001 - 950 000 1951 950 001 - 1 051 000 1952 1 051 000 - 1 124 000 1953 1 124 001 - 1 236 000 1954 1 236 001 - 1 333 000 1955 1 333 001 - 1 459 000 1956 1 459 001 - 1 548 000 1957 1 548 001 - 1 645 300 1958 1 645 301 - 1 717 000 1959 1 717 001 - 1 827 000 1960 1 827 001 - 1 913 000 1961 1 913 001 - 1 967 100 1962 1 967 101 - 2 015 700 1963 2 015 701 - 2 077 500 1964 2 077 501 - 2 156 300 1965 2 156 301 - 2 236 500 1966 2 236 501 - 2 254 400 1967 2 254 401 - 2 312 750 1968 2 312 751 - 2 384 700 1969 2 384 701 - 2 468 500 1970 2 468 501 - 2 503 100 1971 2 503 101 - 2 556 500 1972 2 556 501 - 2 663 400 1973 2 663 401 - 2 731 900 1974 2 731 901 - 2 761 100 1975 2 761 101 - 2 809 400 1976 2 809 401 - 2 880 600 1977 2 880 601 - 2 967 250 1978 2 967 251 - 3 013 650 1979 3 013 651 - 3 087 000 - 1980 3 087 001 - 3 160 500 1981 3 160 501 - 3 249 100 1982 3 249 101 - 3 294 900 1983 3 294 901 - 3 346 200 1984 3 346 201 - 3 383 200 1985 3 383 201 - 3 422 890 1986 3 422 891 - 3 455 870 1987 3 455 871 - 3 478 900 1988 3 478 901 - 3 503 150 1989 3 503 151 - 3 540 467 1990 3 540 468 - 3 583 830 1991 3 585 831 - 3 610 680 1992 3 610 381 - 3 644 475 1993 3 644 476 - 3 677 030 1994 3 677 031 - 3 730 290 1995 3 730 291 -

-- Steve Hoffman (shoffman2@socal.rr.com), July 18, 2001.

My God, that sure didn't come out like it went in. Sorry. Maybe John can repost the information in a way that the server won't mangle!

-- Steve Hoffman (shoffman2@socal.rr.com), July 18, 2001.

Here you go Doctor:

http://www.leicagallery.com/lensdates.htm

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), July 18, 2001.

Here's John Collier's important posting "Need M lens serial number information" as a better list
with all lens S/Ns from 1933 to 1985:
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005M GE
Sorry, I don't know where any production number URL is.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), July 18, 2001.

Sorry No. 2: John's list I mentioned above wasn't for 1933-1985, but for 1933-1995 even although you seem to need only up to 1961.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), July 19, 2001.