I received a phone call from a camera source that wanted to know if I would be interested in a “Saiga”. He even described it as a 35mm camera. I said “Sure!” and we made an appointment to meet.
While I was waiting I tried looking the camera up in a major collector’s guide. The closest I could find was “Seica”. Neither the original contact or I could find any mention of the camera he told me it was, so I hoped against hope he was mistaken and it was the Seica.
The Seica was made in 1939 by the Kondo Seiko Co. (Japan). It is a bottom loading 127 camera that took 4x4 cm photos. It has a Heilos Anastigmat f/4.5 lens and a B, T, 25-250 sec Newmann&Heilemann Perfect shutter.
This was a very exciting period in Japanese camera development. Cameras were being manufactured in Japan with purchased German lenses and shutters placed in locally designed bodies. Newmann and Heilemann had both emigrated from Germany to Japan to set up their company to supply shutters to the Japanese camera manufacturers. The Japanese industry was gearing up optical operations to build their own lenses. Then the war came along and most of Japan’s nascent camera manufacturers went into war based manufacturing—things like binocular’s, sights and the like.
I had dreams of finding a real gem, as there are only two Seica’s known to collectors.
And all came to nought when the camera turned out to be a Saiga after all.
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