All Gold and Gold Colored Luxus Cameras

All Authentic gold issues, replicas, models, counterfeits, and forgeries

Welcome to this only website devoted to the description of gold and
gold colored cameras. The site is still under construction but over
time, I will add pictures and information for over 1000 different gold
cameras.

The most important parts of this website are the many many pictures found in each company's gallery of gold cameras. But you might want to read the several paragraphs below for an introductory explanation of what gold cameras are, where they come form and why there are so many counterfeits.

Gold Cameras

Gold cameras are relatively unknown even within the camera collecting universe and most camera collectors remain unaware of the great number and wide variety of gold cameras in existence. Camera collecting books do not deal with them and even the camera companies that carefully produced what will often be very very special corporate gifts do not keep record of how many they produced and to whom they were given. For this reason, this compilation will eventually present as much as is known about how and why each gold camera came to be.

Gold cameras were very special gifts made for very special people, including royalty and political personages, important corporate executives and even camera importers and leading sales leaders. Most were manufactured in very small numbers, lots as small as 10 or 20 cameras or often less. In some instances, only one gold camera is known to exist. Many gold cameras were the results of owner idealism. These cameras all have a story to tell.

No gold cameras were made of solid gold. Most are gold plated,
some gold washed and some just covered with a gold colored metal alloy. Indeed, some are only gold colored, made of highly polished brass. Nonetheless, all were issued as special luxury editions of important cameras in current production and represented a form of corporate self congratulation for a commercial success. You should know that some of these gold cameras are counterfeit in the sense that they are products of non-authorized after market workshops using standard chrome cameras for gilding. Some are legitimately made factory authorized replicas and issued as such. But actual counterfeits exist because the process of gilding a standard camera can often increase its value ten fold. Some counterfeits reflect beautiful work, often better than the authentic originals, but can almost always be detected. Indeed, many many known counterfeits, or, "replicas" if you wish, are quite expensive and appreciating the history of these ersatz versions is no less interesting than knowing about the real gold cameras they seek to replicate. Russian and Ukrainian counterfeit Leicas are a world unto themselves and merit their own gallery.

I have also included several cameras that have gold ornamentation though the camera body itself might be bakelite or metal. Bilora, for instance, made luxus camera but did not use a totally gold body. The Genos bakelite box cameras listed here were similarly luxury versions of their more plain non-gold versions. At some point in the future I should add a separate gallery devoted just to luxury bakelite cameras with gold fittings. Similarly, I have also listed wood view cameras with gold fittings as these, too, were luxury versions of that company's more mundane offerings.

The Galleries

I hope these pictures amuse you as much as they amuse me. Galleries are arranged alphabetically and each gallery holds up to 12 pictures. Some brands, such as Leica, have many different galleries for different
models. The thumbnail pictures are a little rough but each gallery presents other thumbnails which can be enlarged for better quality
pictures. Should you wish additional images, please contact me.

Supplementary galleries at the end present yet additional pictures and information. The ZZ section is an appendix which deals with ancestors to gold cameras, large format gold lenses, and several sections deal with gold camera lapel pins. There is even a section with pictures of the ugliest and most bizarre gold cameras that have come to my attention.

I welcome your comments and whatever information you may have about gold cameras. Tracking down information about each individual camera is time consuming and often involves a fair amount of detective work. Hence, any information you may have will be enormously appreciated. I am in the process of adding pictures to the galleries and eventually I hope to begin adding as much information as I have about each camera. This is a continuing work in progress.

Please check the archives of www.Camera-Shopper.com for the several dozen articles I have written about various gold cameras and why camera corporations often chose the particular models for gold plating. Eventually, I will add all the information of these articles to this website.

All rights to pictures and text are reserved. But should you wish to make
use of any picture posted here, please feel free to contact me to arrange for permission.

Special Thanks and Credits

Most of these cameras are part of my personal collection but I am very
grateful to those individuals who have given me permission to show
their cameras here, especially Peter Coeln of Westlichte Camera
Auctions and the Leica Shop in Vienna, Austria.

Many sources of information have proven invaluable. James McKeown's Cameras 2005-2006, remains the sine qua non of all classic camera information. I wish to thank the Rollei Club and www.minoxdoc.com for more specialized information in specific areas. Needless to say, both Wikipedia and Camerapedia are excellent places to begin any camera research, as is Google.

Jerry Friedman.
You can always contact me at Smallcameraco@yahoo.com

www.camera-shopper.com

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