This may look like just another run-of-the-mill
Nikon F to you, but in fact it is an extremely rare model. Military Nikons
of any kind are hot collector's item and KE-48C is no exception. This
camera is so rare that many collectors probably have not even heard of
it! I have come across another two KE-48Cs with "US GOVT PROPERTY"
engraved at the back. One is engraved in the middle, just below the viewfinder
eyepiece. It was shown on the March 1996 issue of the Nikon Historical
Journal (perhaps the first ever reference of this camera?). The second
one has the engraving more to the right, just below the film advance lever.
However, this KE-48C I own and the other two examples shown on the Japanese
book "Millitary Camera -- the Pictorial Guide" do NOT have this
"US GOVT PROPERTY" engraving. Apart from the Japanese book I
just mentioned and a couple of NHS Journals, the only other reference
about KE-48C I am aware of is the legendary www.cameraquest.com website
run by Mr. Stephen Gandy. In Mr Gandy's website, there is another mysterious
Nikon F marked with "US GOVT PROPERTY" (No contract plate on
the back) that he is unsure of its background. I personally suspect this
is actually just a KE-48C with a mis-matched back because the location
of the engraving on his camera is exactly the same as the second KE-48C
I was talking about earlier. Mis-matched parts are very common on military
cameras. That KE-48C I saw actually had its advance side top plate replaced
with a CHROME one! (I bet the current owner of that camera must have rectified
it by now.) |