This Camera Store is Selling ‘Copper Plated’ Leica Cameras as Art Pieces

A camera store in Germany has teamed up with a specialist to create and sell a series of limited edition, non-functional, “copper-plated” Leica rangefinders as art pieces that’ll class up your mantlepiece. Though we’re not sure why the camera store decided to put “copper-plated” in quotes…

These collectibles are the brain child of Leica dealer Meister Camera in Germany, and they were first spotted on Facebook by Leica Rumors. The store is selling eight “copper-plated” Leica rangefinders in all, each of them marked as a “single copy” and each coated in copper by an unnamed “specialist company” using a “galvanic process.”

Details on how this was done and to what extent the internals have also been coated have not been shared, but the store page lists five different Leica III’s, a Leica II, a Leica I, and a Leica M3, each with its own lens and various accessories, and each of them completely covered in copper. You can take a closer look at one of the copper-covered Leicas—ostensibly a Leica IIIa complete with a Hektor 4.5/13.5cm lens and frame finder—in the product images below:

It’s unclear how many (if any) of these collectibles have already sold, but if you want to check them out for yourself, head over to the Meister Camera online store. Prices range from ~$1,175 for the Leica IIf and two of the Leica III’s, on up to a max price of ~$1,650 for the Leica M3.

(via DPReview)