Is This the Mother of All Leica M Special Editions?

This is not the first royal Thai Leica M special edition. In 2016, a golden Leica M6 commemorated the 50th coronation anniversary of Thailand’s late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Now, in collaboration with Thai Beverage, one of Southeast Asia’s largest distilleries, a Leica M10-P limited edition honors the coronation of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn. With probably the most expensive Leica limited edition kit ever.

A gold-plated Leica M10-P royal Thai limited edition with matching glass

There are two kits. The yellow one consists of a gold-plated camera body with yellow crocodile leather, along with each a gold-plated APO Summicron 50/2 ASPH and Summilux 35/1.4 ASPH. 10 of these kits will be available.

The green kit consists of a gold-plated camera body with green crocodile leather and the golden APO Summicron 50/2 ASPH. 20 of these kits will be available.

10 of these yellow and golden-plated kits will be made available. Price? Nearly 50’000 dollars. (ThaiBev)

Says the Echtheits-Zertifikat: “Essential external parts of the camera and the lens are coated with a layer of real gold.”

Details about price and availability are not yet made public. I’d assume the green kit to go for about $30k, the yellow one for some 50% more. Certainly a many collector’s dream, maybe less so for photographers. Safe to say, these will likely be the priciest Leica special editions ever. All proceeds from sales go to charitable royal projects.

Or you can get the green version – with one instead of two golden-plated lenses. (ThaiBev)

Simply a matter of supply and demand.

Looks like Leica is offering these special edition services as a kind of value-adding service. Anyone can order a special edition, if one pays for it. The final sales price is up to the client.

For instance, the client chooses the package, such as which lens(es) to include.