It seems the only thing that made this lens a limited edition is its association with the Leica Historical Society of America (LHSA that amounted to simply a name on 500 boxes. Now when I bought my lens from B&H shortly after Steve received his lens (in fact, I learned about the lens on Steve’s website), there wasn’t the LHS name on my box, which makes me wonder if there were two productions of this lens at the same time-the LHSA so called limited edition as well as another production not associated with LHSA. However, said Steve, “there were only a few available in the world.” And he mentioned that Ken Hansen had a few lenses remaining, but B&H was also selling them. Interestingly enough, Steve mentioned that the only identification of the 50 mm Lux black chrome lens as a limited edition was the Leica Historical Society (LHS) name on the box.

Clearly both Steve and Thorsten believed that only 500 of the black chrome 50 mm Lux limited edition lens were produced and that it would similarly appreciate. Thorsten Overgaard in reviewing the 50 mm Lux black chrome limited special edition lens on his website also mentioned the earlier version black paint limited edition and its appreciation from $3600 to $8,000 as a good reason for him to hold on to his black chrome limited special edition. On his website, Steve mentioned that he bought this same lens for $3600 in the M8 days when it was in black paint and also a LHSA limited special edition. In January, 2016 Ken Hansen sent Steve Huff the LHSA black chrome limited special edition 50 mm Lux lens, of which there were 500, to review. But I haven’t heard from Steve, so I thought I would post it on your site, and if I hear from Steve, I will let you know. I sent this post to Steve Huff for comment thinking that he might have some insights and have been waiting. P eter, here is what I found out through Steve Huff’s and Thorsten Overgaard’s sites and the Leica Store in SoHo-all of which is very confusing. George, one of the participants in that discussion, wrote to me today with some follow-up commentary I thought was worth sharing (with his permission): Last week I questioned whether the production run of the Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH Matte Black Chrome lens was limited to only 500 units, given the continued availability of this lens (brand new) several years after its introduction.

50mm summicron apo limited black chrome