The auction saw a frenzied bidding war over its highlight piece, a Leica MP2 from 1958. With a starting price of € 80,000 this ultra rare camera is one of only six ever built, making it the most sought after and collectable Leica to date. It sold for € 402,000 (approx. US$ 532,453) to an Asian collector, who is now the owner of the most expensive Leica camera ever sold at auction.
The auction took place on 4 December at the Westlicht gallery in Vienna, home to an 800 strong collection of vintage cameras.
Nikon also proved to be a big seller with two record breaking sales. The Nikon S2-E, a viewfinder camera built in 1957 and a F3 NASA from 1968 found a new owner for the sum of € 168,000. Both exceeded the starting price by more than tenfold and became the most expensive Nikon cameras to be sold at auction, claims Westlicht.
A photo auction conducted the same day had equally lucrative results. A European dealer purchased a portrait of Egon Schiele by Josef Trcka for € 43,200. A portrait of Klimt also sold for a staggering € 15,600. Other prints by classic photographers Josef Sudek, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Philippe Halsman and Franz Hubmann went for prices that hugely exceeded the starting bids.
The next Westlicht Photographica Auction will take place on 28 May 2011.
Source: www.exposure-magz.com
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