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LEICA M6 Royal Wedding Rangefinder Camera
Model, 1995
Denmark, is a country located at Scandinavian region of northern Europe and bridging
continental Europe with the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland. The south
is bordered with Germany (Hamburg, Germany is being the nearest larger city). The
country actually was a large peninsula,with many smaller islands which make up the
Danish Archipelago. In a way, the native land can be small when compare to other
European Nations but politically, Faroe Islands and Greenland are autonomous provinces
of Denmark with home rule.
Along with other Scandinavian countries such as Norway & Sweden, Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Meaning, each has
a King or Queen, while another Baltic country, Finland is a semi-presidential republic).
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The Danish monarchy can be traced back more than 1000 years. Danes are proud of their queen
and their royal monarchy. Queen Margrethe II is widely respected for her intellectual prowess and her artistic
abilities. Along with the Prince Consort Hendrik, the Queen has translated French
literary works into Danish and vice versa. The sons, heir Apparent, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim: HRH Prince Frederik married Mary Elizabeth Donaldson
, Australian in nature who originated from Hobart, Tasmania only late in 2004. It
was on 18 November 1995 the younger brother of the heir to the Danish throne, Crown
Prince Frederik, H.K.H. Prins Joachim or Prince Joachim married in Hillerød, near Copenhagen
with Alexandra Christina Manley, a
Hong Kong-born former sales and marketing deputy chief executive of British, Chinese,
Czech and Austrian ancestry.
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The wedding of Prince Joachim took place in the Frederiksborg
Palace Church as it was the first royal wedding held involving possible successor
of the throne and was wildly celebrated nationwide. Local Leica distributor, Nordisk
Foto Import A/S took the occasion by releasing
a commemorative M6 camera in 1995 to mark the event and that was why it was referred
as LEICA M6 Royal Wedding
Edition.
Note:- Also another major event held in London
was the Royal Wedding of Crown Prince
Pavlos of Greece was also held in 1995.
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In a typical LEICA M6 Royal Wedding Edition, it was supplied
in a white corrugated box and has an emblem printed on. Inside, the camera was cased
in a deep burgundy wooden presentation box which has a very nice deep sea blue velvet.
The camera should bundled with a SUMMICRON-M 1:2/35mm chrome and a matching plastic
lens hood and cap supplied. Together, the documentation papers would include a letter
of authentication with the serial number of issued handwritten on. The total quantity
of this edition was 200 in total and thus, each Serial Number was engraved or written
as xxx-200. The supplied Summicron-M 35mm f/2.0 has no special encoding nor engraved
with any relevant theme with this special event.
The LEICA M6 Royal Wedding Edition 1995 camera body only has silver chrome finish.
There were three differences which would otherwise identical with any standard production
M6 Classic chrome. |
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The leatherette for body covering uses Ostrich/Emu skinned
material, which was first used in M6 series with the LEICA M6/T back
in 1992. But the most prominent feature of the LEICA M6 Royal Wedding edition of
1995 was mainly centered at the top plate.
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| A) an emblem, looks like Codes of Arm was engraved at
the left hand side, the emblem which at the bottom of the royal crest has some similarity
with the one for HRH
Crown Prince Frederik except the details at
lower portion differs. B) royal wedding date for Prince Joachim & Miss Alexandra
Christina Manley was engraved at the center location i.e. 18th November, 1995; C)
Along with the usual Leica production S/N, xxx/200 which signifies the copy of the
issue of each unit is engraved on the accessory shoe. |
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The LEICA M6 Royal Wedding 1995 edition was introduced
on good course for the Denmark nationals and/or people who are keen royalty followers.
Admittedly, to a Leica collector, the edition was attached with a strong localized
flavor and may restrict its appeal to wider audience as collectibles. However, this
was probably the only LEICA M6 model issued with such a theme and may appeal to specific
collector with such interest. Minus the theme of this edition, the LEICA M6 Royal
Wedding Edition model will just be another regular production Classic M6 body for
photography.
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| I am just a compiler of information for various LEICA
M-series bodies and it may not be very appropriate for me to put up any remarks on
justification nor collectible value as it should be leave to individual to make a
decision. But equally, I may have to update some of the news and development in what
happened after the seemingly perfect marriage event held back in 1995 and let viewers
weighs in the significance of these development. |
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In a BBC News Report published on 16 September, 2004, it states " ...Denmark's Prince
Joachim, the youngest son of Queen Margrethe, and his Hong Kong-born wife Princess
Alexandra are heading
to divorce..after 10 years together...".
Sad state.. Some historians recall it was the first divorce in Danish royal family
since 1846, when King Frederik VII divorced Princess Caroline. A recent development
as reported by Reuters, UK on May 24, 2008; " .... Denmark's Prince Joachim marries for second time...". In a way, the Royal Wedding Edition had lost
its original meaningful theme and/or objective.
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However, transacted prices in the collectible Leica market
seemingly are immune from the private incident between the couple and has not reflected
in what had happened in real life scenario. Instead, the M6 Royal Wedding Edition
actually has been appreciating in its value gradually over last few years. Well,
partly it may be explained that it was due to hedging depreciation of USD against
other currency during the period. In many ways, some may argue that this was the
only release within the M6 Series that has a touch of "royal" flavor but
personally, I am not as sentimental.
For those who may has special interest in the
Danish Royal Family; here are two links that you can refer to: Danish Royal Watchers
(Current Events
and happenings) / (Archive News by Major Media houses reporting on the Denmark Royalties) |
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Here are a series of very well taken
photos of the LEICA M6 Royal Wedding Edition taken by Kurland Photo@Ebay®. All Images Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved.
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