Nicephore Niepce camera on Ebay

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

Thank you John,
... I think it could have been a good investment, if we discover in 2009 that the "new" letters from Niepce are mentioning this small "box" as Daguerre was calling the Niepce cameras!
Pierre-Jean Bickart

and if we discover in 2009 that it was owned by his fifth-cousin Bernard?

Also, do you think the value would change if a letter was found stating that he tried the camera, but got rid of it because he didn't like the bokeh?

 

[walter23]

You can get a kodak brownie or just about any old box camera for a lot less than 50,000 euros. Probably works better.

Collectors are kind of ridiculous. The thing belongs in a museum, not the private shelf of some rich guy. The fact that whether or not it was ever owned by Niepce would have such a dramatic impact on the value just reiterates this fact. It was an old camera, it was from the same period, it was from the same region. Same difference.

 

[removed account4]

You can get a kodak brownie or just about any old box camera for a lot less than 50,000 euros. Probably works better.

Collectors are kind of ridiculous. The thing belongs in a museum, not the private shelf of some rich guy. The fact that whether or not it was ever owned by Niepce would have such a dramatic impact on the value just reiterates this fact. It was an old camera, it was from the same period, it was from the same region. Same difference.

but would they have the godfather of photography, who got so little
"respect" he photographed himself as a drowned man's signature dry-pointed
inside the camera? THAT is the question ...