1939 - Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5

ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1939, WORLD WAR II OFFICIALLY ERUPTED. STRATEGIC RESOURCE PRIORITIZATION BECAME ABSOLUTE; THE RARE-EARTH OPTICAL GLASS REQUIRED FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE LENSES WAS CLASSIFIED AS A STRATEGIC ASSET BY THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT. PRODUCTION LINES WERE FROZEN. THIS ULTRA-EARLY BATCH OF 103 LENSES HAD JUST BEEN COMPLETED WHEN THE PROJECT WAS FORCIBLY HALTED BY THE WAR. CONSEQUENTLY, MASS PRODUCTION OF THE SUMMARIT WAS SUSPENDED FOR A FULL DECADE UNTIL 1949. THOSE 103 LENSES PRODUCED IN 1939 USED THE SERIAL RANGE OF THAT ERA, WHILE THE NEXT OFFICIAL BATCH SKIPPED TEN YEARS TO 1949. THIS DECADE-LONG GAP MIRRORS THE RISE AND COLLAPSE OF WARTIME GERMANY. THESE 103 LENSES REMAIN MYSTERIOUS; HISTORICAL SPECULATION SUGGESTS THEY WERE EITHER INTERNAL TEST UNITS, FACTORY REFERENCE SAMPLES, OR RARELY DELIVERED TO PRESS PHOTOGRAPHERS THROUGH SPECIAL CONNECTIONS PRE-WAR. WE PREVIOUSLY ONLY SAW TRACES OF THEM IN LEICA ADVERTISEMENTS. WHILE THE 1949 CATALOG MODELS WERE ENGRAVED WITH "U.S. PAT. NR." (UNITED STATES PATENT NUMBER), OUR ACQUIRED UNIT LACKS THIS ENGRAVING, FURTHER CONFIRMING ITS RARITY. THE ABSENCE OF THE "U.S. PAT" MARK PROVES THAT THIS SPECIFIC LENS WAS NOT MANUFACTURED FOR THE COMMERCIAL MARKET AT THE TIME OF PRODUCTION.