Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/08/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This afternoon I stumbled across a tiny used Leica shop in an underground
shopping center in central Seoul, Korea that would put most others in the
whole world to shame. This guy has: many, many M-4, 5, 6s, a dozen M-3s;
three M-2s; three IIIGs, incl. a black one; and II and IIIa,b,c out the
kazoo. Everything is in pristine condition. The place looks like a damn
museum. He said he bought everything all over the world. He's got less
lenses, but a few.
The bad news is there are no bargains--the "boy" wants top dollar for
everything. My guess is he made a huge amount of money somehow/ someway (I
don't want to know) and this is just his hobby. Knowing a little about
Korean culture, he's retired and his wife probably said "get out of the
house during the day and take that huge collection of cameras with you"
...........or words to that effect. So he started the business.
Lastly, after living in "Crime Central" (Houston) all my adult life, it's
amazing how little/ none security he has--no burgler alarm, CCTV, or a vault
w/ a King's ransom of mechandise in the display windows. That kind of stuff
wouldn't last 5 minutes in most of the USA and he'd be lying in a pool of
blood. Korea has no street crime, but a ton of white -collar crime (in our
terms--not theirs).
The owner's name is Jung-auk Lee and his phone number is 02-774-6777 or
02-774-6772. He's a real nice guy and speaks pretty good English. He has a
son who graduated from Arizona State and lives in Tempe.
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