I've got a Canon P with the letters "TE" engraved inside a small square box on the accessory shoe. Does anyone have any idea what this means? Searches with Google indicate this is a rare marking, but not unknown. Very little else seems to be known. Any thoughts anyone?

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t161/wanchaiboy/p5.jpg

You should post this message on the "Coffee with Experts" forum on the Rangefinder Forum. Peter Dechert, who wrote THE book on Canon rangefinder cameras, has a sub-forum there, and can tell you more about this particular P. Only bad part is that RFF appears to be down right now, I haven't been able to connect to the website since Wednesday.

Jim B.

I'm glad I'm not the only one having trouble with RFF -- though it is disturbing it's been down this long.

I agree with Jim's idea -- IF you can get through to RFF, Peter D. would be the guy to ask.

Thanks. I read Peter's books some time ago and now I regret selling it! I'll make a post in that forum.

I've got a Canon P with the letters "TE" engraved inside a small square box on the accessory shoe. Does anyone have any idea what this means? Searches with Google indicate this is a rare marking, but not unknown. Very little else seems to be known. Any thoughts anyone?

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t161/wanchaiboy/p5.jpg

The TE stands for "Tax Exempt"

Jim,

How do you know that TE stands for Tax Exempt?
Have you seen any documentation of similat cases?

We now have found seven Canon P cameras with engraving TE.

and why are they tax exempt?

It was very common for troops based in occupied countries (after WWII) to be allowed to buy tax free goods like cameras. Certainly in the UK purchase tax on luxury goods was quite high in the 50's & 60's , and the Rolleiflex I own was bought tax free by an RAF officer in the 60's while he was based in Germany.

Ian

One opinion is that TE stands for a company name.