€2,400,000 for a Leica 0
Another record falls for Leica: at WestLicht's 32nd auction, a Leica 0 was sold for €2.4 million.
On Saturday 10 March 2018, the WestLicht auction house offered 530 cameras, lenses and photographic accessories for sale. Star of the auction, lot no. 3: the Leica 0 no. 122 from 1923.
It sold at a record price of €2.4 million (including taxes), making it the most expensive camera in the world.
In 2012, WestLicht had already sold a Leica 0, no. 116, which at the time was the most expensive camera in the world, fetching €2.16 million. No. 117 had been sold for €1.32 million a year earlier.
The Leica 0
In 1913 and between 1918 and 1920, Oskar Barnack built three prototype cameras. Around 25 units were then produced at Leitz to gauge the reaction of future customers and to test the manufacturing process. They were numbered starting from 100. The Leica 0 was born. From this "Nullserie" (in German) the Leica I was born in 1925.
The Leica 0's dimensions are compact: length = 133.2 mm, width = 30 mm, height = 53 mm. The lens is a Leitz Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5 — a four-element triplet (the last two elements cemented together) designed by Max Berek. This lens, non-interchangeable, has a collapsible mount; its focus is adjustable from 1 metre to infinity and its aperture ranges from f/3.5 to f/12.