Million (+) dollar Leica

bdial · Apr 1, 2022

Not just any Leica, Oscar Barnack's own O-Series.

Oskar Barnack’s 0-Series Leica camera expected to fetch over $3M at the next Leitz Photographica Auction

Sirius Glass · Apr 1, 2022

I'll bet that the AF does not work.

AnselMortensen · Apr 7, 2022

I bet the 3D Matrix Flash metering doesn't work either.
Meh.
I'd pay $5.
And sell it for $10.

AgX · Apr 8, 2022

But to be serious: had Barnack time to sport this camera to the extend that lead to this brassing?

benjiboy · May 2, 2022

I would have to become sick in the head to buy that load of old junk at all, I don't care who has owned it.

Sirius Glass · May 2, 2022

benjiboy said:
I would have to become sick in the head to buy that load of old junk at all, I don't care who has owned it.

Your Canon and my Nikon are easier to use.

ic-racer · May 2, 2022

This was posted on April 1st...

Sirius Glass · May 2, 2022

ic-racer said:
This was posted on April 1st...

... so do not wait for the other shoe to drop.

Wallendo · May 2, 2022

The linked article: https://leicarumors.com/2022/03/29/...itz-photographica-auction.aspx/#ixzz7PCZaLj2I
was posted on March 29, 2022. The April 1 date is a red herring.

The article also briefly describes the provenance of the camera.

I wonder if the auction house will sell it to me for $10 for personal use.

Don_ih · May 2, 2022

Wallendo said:
I wonder if the auction house will sell it to me for $10 for personal use.

Probably not, but I'll sell you mine for a million....

Sirius Glass · May 2, 2022

Wallendo said:
The linked article: https://leicarumors.com/2022/03/29/...itz-photographica-auction.aspx/#ixzz7PCZaLj2I
was posted on March 29, 2022. The April 1 date is a red herring.

The article also briefly describes the provenance of the camera.

I wonder if the auction house will sell it to me for $10 for personal use.

You have been most patient so ask the auction house to sell it to you for $3US.

gone · May 2, 2022

I think I'd much rather have a Degas, a Morandi or a Georges Roault. Might even have enough left over for a bottle of wine. April was a good month.

benjiboy · May 3, 2022

If I had that kind of money I can think of much better things to spend it on.

AgX · May 4, 2022

AgX said:
But to be serious: had Barnack time to sport this camera to the extend that lead to this brassing?

No replies?

Don_ih · May 5, 2022

AgX said:
No replies?

He took photos. Supposedly, the motivation for the camera was his desire to have a smaller, sharper camera for photography. Perhaps he carried it around a lot. At the very least, it probably would have been shown to many people who would have fiddled with it. And maybe the paint wasn't very robust.

greg zinselmeier · May 5, 2022

AgX said:
No replies?

No, he did not have time or use it that much to have the camera looking like that. On a side note. Everything I have ever made (furniture, cameras, art, etc) MY Stuff, I have taken excellent care of. I hardly think he would think so little or so mistreat his life work. I don’t think Vincent would be walking on his paintings in the south of France. Just sayin,
I do think Leica needs and wants to keep building Aura around themselves. I do think a lot of it is stage craft. I would not be surprised if it’s all hot air.
I’ve owned a Leica once, Owning a Leica does not make you a better artist or a better photographer. Leica cameras are not like Christine( the movie) !!!! Acting on your behalf, and executing your narcissistic delusional desires. Which is exactly what Leica wants people to believe!! This silly camera you people keep talking about is irrelevant, a joke, a farce, a rouse, someone pulling the wool over, a snow job. It’s to get you to believe. If you believe than you too will go out and buy our brand, and be a legend in your own mind!!! And Believing that you are a legend in everybody’s else’s mind too. This camera and it’s media blitz is an extended story advertisement. Like a paid infomercial.

guangong · May 5, 2022

There is no logical explanation for collectors (think of our members afflicted with GAS).;But there are people who give less thought to shelling out a million $ than many of us give to spending a quarter. However, many antiques have been rescued from oblivion by collectors that would have been lost to the world. A good example is the Elgin Marbles, whose fate would have been to be burned to make fertilizer. Better to have several million spent on this Leica...most likely at some time in the future, will be donated to some museum.

benjiboy · May 5, 2022

guangong said:
There is no logical explanation for collectors (think of our members afflicted with GAS).;But there are people who give less thought to shelling out a million $ than many of us give to spending a quarter. However, many antiques have been rescued from oblivion by collectors that would have been lost to the world. A good example is the Elgin Marbles, whose fate would have been to be burned to make fertilizer. Better to have several million spent on this Leica...most likely at some time in the future, will be donated to some museum.

This sort of thing makes me angry about the morality of someone who has an obscene amount of wealth spending such a huge sum of money on a piece of old junk when two-thirds of the World's population go to bed hungry every night.

Sirius Glass · May 5, 2022

benjiboy said:
This sort of thing makes me angry about the morality of someone who has an obscene amount of wealth spending such a huge sum of money on a piece of old junk when two-thirds of the World's population go to bed hungry every night.

But it is their money to spend as they see fit and neither you nor I get a say in the matter.

AgX · May 5, 2022

Thank you guys for your replies. In any case this question of mine was the very first thought I had when seeing this camera.

benjiboy · May 5, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
But it is their money to spend as they see fit and neither you nor I get a say in the matter.

That's true, it's not illegal but don't you think Steve there's a moral dimension to spending so much money to own an Item that has no intrinsic value when so many men women and children in the world are suffering.
I think we do as fellow human beings have the right to have an opinion on the ethical rectitude of this action.

Sirius Glass · May 5, 2022

benjiboy said:
That's true, it's not illegal but don't you think Steve there's a moral dimension to spending so much money to own an Item that has no intrinsic value when so many men women and children in the world are suffering.
I think we do as fellow human beings have the right to have an opinion on the ethical rectitude of this action.

Yes, but if I cannot influence them directly I leave them to their own.

gone · May 5, 2022

Remember the member here that's looking for a $10 Leica (how could anyone forget that)? This is their big chance to put a bid in, you never know!

I'm prepared to have one of my agents bid up to $11.50, just in case.

bdial · Jun 12, 2022

The hammer price was a mere 14.4 million euro.

https://www.leitz-auction.com/auction/en/auktion34/auction40/article/305.html

benjiboy · Jun 12, 2022

I sometimes feel like the only sane person in a mad world.

Million (+) dollar Leica

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