Today's Underpriced Acquisition

[Kimberly Anderson]

So allow me a few moments to gloat.

I saw a Pentax Spot V advertised for sale locally and picked it up this morning. While I was there we struck up a conversation and asked the seller if he had any more of his grandfather's camera equipment. Apparently he was in the Army and was also a Marine. He described an old camera with some 'bellows-y' looking thing on it. I said I'd like to see it. He ran in and I expected him to come out with a Speed Graphic. He came out with a Linhof Master Tecnika III with a beautiful Xenotar 135 f/3.5. The camera was ROUGH and I immediately looked at the lens. It was dirty but looked like it would clean up OK. I told him the whole package was probably worth about $75 (which was a wild-assed-guess). He asked me if I'd give him $75. I offered him $50 and he agreed. I ran to the ATM, returned and gave him $60. The original price of the Spot V was $100. It is MINT.

All in all I'd say I did pretty good today.

[AtlantaTerry]

Hey, he was happy and you were happy. Sounds like it was a good deal all around.

BTW, if memory serves me correctly, the meter used mercury-based batteries. If true, they are hard to find or you can have the meter reset to use today's batteries.

[EdSawyer]

It would have been better if you didn't lie to him about the value. The camera and lens are easily worth 10x your estimate.

So allow me a few moments to gloat.

I saw a Pentax Spot V advertised for sale locally and picked it up this morning. While I was there we struck up a conversation and asked the seller if he had any more of his grandfather's camera equipment. Apparently he was in the Army and was also a Marine. He described an old camera with some 'bellows-y' looking thing on it. I said I'd like to see it. He ran in and I expected him to come out with a Speed Graphic. He came out with a Linhof Master Tecnika III with a beautiful Xenotar 135 f/3.5. The camera was ROUGH and I immediately looked at the lens. It was dirty but looked like it would clean up OK. I told him the whole package was probably worth about $75 (which was a wild-assed-guess). He asked me if I'd give him $75. I offered him $50 and he agreed. I ran to the ATM, returned and gave him $60. The original price of the Spot V was $100. It is MINT.

All in all I'd say I did pretty good today.

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, the V uses 3 common SR44, or Eveready 357 silver oxide button cells, available at any drugstore.

Jon

Hey, he was happy and you were happy. Sounds like it was a good deal all around.

BTW, if memory serves me correctly, the meter used mercury-based batteries. If true, they are hard to find or you can have the meter reset to use today's batteries.

[Eric Rose]

I agree with Ed. Ignorance on the sellers part was exploited by someone he perceived as a subject expert. Not cool. A guy in a camera store tried the same thing on my uncle when he took his Leica in there looking to trade it in on something easier to use (he was in his late 70's).

[Kimberly Anderson]

I like how Eric and Ed think that I'm the bad guy. The neighborhood that I had to drive through to get this equipment was one of the worst in the valley. I honestly thought about turning around and going home. The young man and his two friends looked like trouble and fortunately they met me on the street and I stayed in my car. He was thrilled to sell the equipment and admitted to himself that the stuff has just been sitting around collecting dust. I was the first to call, and the first to purchase. I inquired about other equipment he might have had and he obliged. I looked at the camera, gave it a quick glance, had no idea if the bellows are light-tight, no idea if the shutter speeds were accurate or if the glass was any good. There is heavy salt-corrosion all over the camera. It is an ugly thing. Having been around cameras and seen things that I thought were worth a fortune be worth nothing, and knowing really nothing of Linhof, I felt that I took a risk, rolled the dice a little and we were both happy.

Now you guys may think that I took advantage of him, that is fine. It doesn't matter to me what you think of the situation. Thank you though for allowing me to fill in a few of the pieces. It may or may not change your opinion. Again, it doesn't matter to me.

Have a great day.

[Steven Tribe]

Might be worthwhile checking the serial number against the list of stolen Linhofs?
Circumstances, as you describe them, suggest sculduggery!

[Kimberly Anderson]

Where is said list? I would like to check that.

[Eric Rose]

Your title indicated that you knowingly paid less than it was worth. Maybe it was a poor choice of words.

[Kimberly Anderson]

I knew I underpaid what it was worth. How much I underpaid, I had no idea. How much others think I underpaid is their personal opinion.

Wow...I may have to delete this thread...except if I do everyone will think I'm a bigger jackass than they already do. I would agree, probably a poor choice of words. What has been said, has been said.