I was amazed to read that an antique camera has set a new record price at an auction in Vienna, Austria.
Today at Westilicht Photographica Auctions a Leica 0-Serie Nr.107 (1923) camera sold for 1.3 million EUR (US $1.9 million). The opening bid was 200,000 EUR with an estimated price of 350,000-450,000 EUR.
AP reports that the camera went to a “private Asian collector after a nailbiting, 20-minute bidding process”. This is the camera description:
This is the 7th camera of the Leica 0-series. Only approximately 25 of these cameras were produced to test the market in 1923, 2 years before the commercial introduction of the Leica A. It is the only camera known with ‘Germany’ engraving on the top plate. The factory record indicates delivery to New York for patent applies. This means that this camera is not only one of the major existing rarities, it is also the first Leica being exported. It is the unique chance to buy the most important collectible Leica camera.
The previous record for the most expensive Leica was a MP2 that sold for EUR 402,000 in December of 2010.
There’s more at the link.
For the life of me, I can’t see how a camera like that can fetch a price that high! If it were one of the cameras used by Mathew Brady to record the Civil War, all right – that’s an artifact of cultural history, not just technology. I guess I’m not enough of a camera buff to have a true appreciation for the value of such things. Still . . . almost two million dollars? I could retire on that sum!
Peter
BH and I have a nice little collection. Maybe it's time to take it out of the box and have a closer look!
You know somewhere in the world some one is hitting themselves for throwing away that camera, just because it is, "just old".
Heltau