Dating a VEF Minox camera
This information may not be complete or fully
accurate, I hope we can expand on it and fill in some of the pieces over
time. Please send me your input under minoxriga@yahoo.com
Manufacturing Date:
Manufacturing of the little Minox camera was varied. It started in the first Quarter of 1938 and continued probably till 1942. Production output varied greatly. Initally 2 cameras were made a day, increasing to 180 cameras a month to more than 500 cameras a month. We have to little information to say much more other than that the serial number were given in order or manufacture.
- 1938: 40-50 cameras a month
- 1939: 180-200 cameras a month (Summer 1939)
- 1940: ?
- 1941: 500+ cameras a month ?
- 1942: production ceases immediately after AEG takeover ?
- 1943: only sales of stocks?
Sale Date:
Sale Date.The
sale date of a camera may not necessarily be in order of the serial
numbers. This could be because the VEF warehouse may indiscrimately
ship camera crates and Shops themselves may have larger stocks,
filling subsequent demand from selling old stock. Therefore this too is
extremely difficult to judge.
- 1938: Latvian Sale starts in May with No.01000
- 1939: UK & Swiss Sale starts in October with No.01900 (UK)?
- 1940: USA Sale starts in July with No.03000/04000?
So extremely difficult to judge, I am using 5 sale certificates as an example to guess-stimate sale dates of cameras of that range. These span the russian occupation period.
| Serial Number Range | Assumed Production | History | Assumed Sale Period | History | Evidence | Sale Date | Camera label |
| 06000 | 1940-APR | Free Latvia | Part of USSR | 5x USSR* | |||
| 06500 | 1940-MAY | Free Latvia | Part of USSR | 1x USSR* | |||
| 07000 | 1940-JUN | Free Latvia | 1940-NOV | Part of USSR | 07043 (Latvia) 07084 (Latvia) | 15-NOV-1940 16-NOV-1940 | - - - |
| 07500 | 1940-JUL | Russian Invasion | 1940-DEC | Part of USSR | 9x USSR* | ||
| 08000 | 1940-AUG | Russian Occupation | 1941-JAN | Part of USSR | 4x USSR* | ||
| 08500 | 1940-SEP | Part of USSR | 1941-FEB | Part of USSR | - - - | ||
| 09000 | 1940-OCT | Part of USSR | 1941-MAR | Part of USSR | 3x USSR | ||
| 09500 | 1940-NOV | Part of USSR | 1941-APR | Part of USSR | 09259 (Latvia) 09579 (?) | No Sale Date 16-APR-1941 | 11x USSR 2x Latvia* |
| 10000 | 1940-DEC | Part of USSR | 1941-MAY | Part of USSR | 5x USSR | ||
| 10500 | 1941-JAN | Part of USSR | 1941-JUN | German Invasion | - - - | ||
| 11000 | 1941-FEV | Part of USSR | 1941-JUL | German Occupation | 2x USSR 1x Latvia* | ||
| 11500 | 1941-MAR | Part of USSR | 1941-AUG | German Occupation | 2x USSR 3x Latvia* | ||
| 12000 | 1941-JUN | German Invasion | 1941-SEP | German Occupation | 12032 (?) | 03-SEP-1941 | 3x Latvia* |
| 12500 | 1941-JUL | German Occupation | German Occupation | 2x Latvia* | |||
| 13000 | 1941-AUG | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - | |||
| 13500 | 1941-SEP | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - | |||
| 14000 | 1941-OCT | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - | |||
| 14500 | 1941-NOV | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - | |||
| 15000 | 1941-DEC | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - | |||
| 15200 end of production | 1942-JAN | German Occupation | German Occupation | - - - |
*re-engraved
Continuing my guess-timation you quickly run into trouble --- I mean out of time. Intestingly AEG took over VEF at the end of January 1942. Could it be that with AEG's take over of VEF, Minox production sziesed with immediate effect, while sales may have continued until 1943 (stocks were depleted) ?Half finished cameras start at 15200. Therefore earlier serial numbers (pre 15200) may have been in more final stages of assembly and were later converted to fully functional examples. When the official production ended is now hard to establish. I would guestimate anywhere between 14800-15000.