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Specification

From the Back Focus magazine (Vol. 10 No. 2, April 1994)

There used to be a standing joke at our house whenever my wife ventured out to strike fear into the hearts of the local shop owners. She always asks if there is anything that I need. As a dedicated Contax collector my reply was invariably the same. "I would like an Ivory or Jena Contax please." Well as you can guess, she never managed to return with either.

Just to put you in the picture, these two versions were manufactured in the Carl Zeiss Jena optical plant in 1947. Jena, like the Zeiss Ikon camera factory at Dresden, was located in Russian occupied East Germany after the four wartime allies had divided Germany into four zones. The Ivory and Jena Contax cameras were identical, except that the Ivory version as the name implies was finished in Ivory enamel with red lizard skin upholstery. Claims are that only six Ivory cameras were made as a marketing exercise, but a perusal of known serial numbers suggest that as many as thirty cameras may have seen the light of day. Only five of these Ivory painted bodies and like painted 5cm f2.0 Sonnars have been found, as well as the normal handful of fakes. Other lenses that received a similar dab from the paint can were a 13.5cm f4.0 Sonnar, 18cm f2.8 Sonnar and 30cm f4.0 Sonnar. It is intriguing to realise that no matter which of the two production figures you consider to be correct, an Ivory Contax is much rarer than a Leica Luxus.

These cameras were assembled from pre-war, wartime and new parts and also marked the start of Kiev production, for there was also a Jena Kiev which came down the same production line at the same time. The number of Jena Kiev's produced is not known, but it has been estimated that around nine hundred Jena Contax's were assembled. Even with such a small number variations exist, with most of the differences seen in the shape of the letters in the Contax engraving on the front face plate. The name itself is approx. three millimeters lower down when compared to a normal pre-war camera. The fold down foot around the tripod socket is a solid casting without the hollowed out portion and the rewind button has a smooth instead of milled edge. Also some cameras were factory synchronised with a cable plug down through the top plate on the winding knob side of the accessory shoe.

The Jena Contax is easy to recognise from the engraving in the accessory shoe. It has the words Carl Zeiss Jena inside the lens like symbol normally used by Zeiss. Below this is the serial imprint, which in most examples is a five digit number. One example has been seen with a four digit number on one line followed by a six digit number on a separate line. None have the customary Zeiss alphabetic pre-cursor before the number.

Other differences are the bezel surrounding the self timer shaft, which is finished in black enamel instead of the normal chrome. The camera is also slightly heavier than the pre-war Contax as the removable back is fashioned from brass instead of the normal aluminum.

From the editor

Rare Contax II finished in ivory lacquer and covered in tan leather. Manufactured by Carl Zeiss Jena in 1947 in small quantities. A small number of lenses were finished to match. Since more than 70 years have passed since these cameras were manufactured, you can tell the true ivory Contax II from the fakes by some wear and color disintegration. If the paint is uniform and has no visible signs of wear, then such camera, if not a fake, is definitely repainted.