The 22nd WestLicht Camera Auction will take place on Saturday, November 24, 2012, 11am. Preview will start on Wednesday, November 21, daily 10 am – 6 pm. Here are the details:
After the sensational world record auction this past May – a Leica 0-Series achieved a price of 2,160,000 EUR – the amazing offers of the 22nd WestLicht Camera Auction, featuring many important pieces and special rarities, promise new record results. A selection of about 650 cameras, lenses and accessories, all of the highest quality, will be sold during the 22nd Auction on November 24, 2012.
About 70% of the lots are made by Leitz/Leica. There has never been a comparable selection before. Starting with a Leica I with Anastigmat Lenses, the first Leica serially produced in 1925 (estimated price 70,000 – 90,000 Euro) to the famous “Luxus” Leica from 1929, one of the very few extant original gold-plated cameras (estimated price 120,000 – 140,000 Euro) to the first Leica of the famous photographer Robert Capa (estimated price 15,000 – 18,000 Euro), the auction also features incredibly rare Leica M cameras.
Apart from 2 prototypes of the M3 (estimated prices up to 180,000 EUR), the very first serially produced M3 (1953, serial number 700001), formerly owned by the chief design engineer of Leitz, Willi Stein, will go on sale with an estimated price of 160,000 – 200,000 Euro. Another top lot is the legendary M3D owned by the LIFE photographer and Picasso intimate David Douglas Duncan. This camera is considered a precursor for the Leica MP, built for professional photographers, and was only made four times. The photographer, who is currently 96 years old, used the camera from 1955 to 2007, for his war reporting from Vietnam, among other assignments. His special friendship with Picasso allowed him a very intimate view of the great artist, resulting in seven books. The estimated price is 250,000 – 350,000 Euro.
No less than 6 models of the Leica MP from 1958, three of them from the holdings of the Magnum Photographer Paul Fusco (with estimated prices up to 150,000 Euro) round out the offers in this auction.
Other makers, however, are also represented with high-carat models. For the first time, a public auction includes cameras produced for the Russian space expeditions to the moon.
Furthermore, the offerings include cameras of the East German and the Russian secret services and antique cameras of remarkable quality. An outstanding lot is a panorama camera for 360 degrees from 1894, the Cyclographe by Damoizeau (estimated price 70,000 – 90,000 Euro).
The crowning glory of the auction is a “Luxus” Megalethoscope by Charles Ponti dated 1865 (estimated price 140,000 – 160,000 Euro).
