Watch three vintage Leicas sell at auction for a combined $4.7 million (video)
posted Friday, December 7, 2012 at 4:12 PM EDT
Leica Rumors has posted an oddly compelling video (below) of the recent WestLicht Camera Auction in Vienna, Austria, where three of the most expensive serial production cameras in the world were sold to the highest bidders.
The cameras, unsurprisingly, were Leicas, and fetched a combined total of €3.6 million, or about $4.7 million.
Read how WestLicht described the finished sale, then watch the video and feel your heart skip a beat as the auctioneer says "one million euros."
"With a price of 1,680,000 Euro the legendary M3D (opening bid: 150,000 Euros) owned by the LIFE photographer and Picasso intimate David Douglas Duncan is the most expensive camera from a serial production ever. It is the second-highest price ever paid for a camera.
The gold-plated ‘Luxus’ Leica dated 1929, sold for 1,020,000 Euro (opening bid: 70,000 Euro), was the second most expensive camera of the auction.
The very first serial-production M3 (1953, serial number 700001), formerly owned by Willi Stein, chief engineer of Leitz, was sold at a top price of 900,000 Euro (opening bid: 80,000 Euro)."
(Via Leica Rumors)