1939 - Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5

1939年9月1日，第二次世界大戰正式爆發。戰略資源優先排序變得至關重要；高性能鏡頭所需的稀土光學玻璃被德國政府列為戰略資產。生產線被迫停工。這批103枚超早期批次的鏡頭剛完成，工程就因戰爭而被迫中止。因此，Summarit鏡頭的大量生產暫停了整整十年，直到1949年才恢復。 1939年生產的103支鏡頭使用了當時的序號範圍，而下一批正式生產的鏡頭則跳過了十年，直接在1949年生產。這十年的空白期反映了戰時德國的崛起和崩潰。這103支鏡頭的來歷至今仍是個謎；歷史學家推測，它們可能是內部測試樣機、工廠參考樣品，或者在戰前透過特殊管道罕見地交付給了新聞攝影師。我們之前只在徠卡廣告中見過它們的蹤跡。雖然1949年產品目錄中的型號都刻有「U.S. PAT. NR.」（美國專利號），但我們獲得的這支鏡頭卻沒有這個刻印，進一步證實了它的稀有性。缺少「U.S. PAT.」標記證明，這支鏡頭在生產時並非面向商業市場。

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.