1923 Leica prototype sells for record 1.32 million euros

VIENNA (AFP) – A Leica camera from 1923 was sold at auction Saturday for a world record 1.32 million euros ($1.89 million), shattering pre-sale estimates.

The purchaser was a private collector from Asia who wants to remain anonymous, said Vienna’s WestLicht gallery, which organised the auction.

The camera was one of about 25 prototypes made in 1923, two years before the celebrated German brand went into commercial production. It had been valued ahead of the auction at between 350,000 and 450,000 euros.

The previous world record was set last year when a collector paid 732,000 euros for a daguerreotype, the world’s first commercially produced camera, which bore the rare signature of its French inventor.