LEICA Barnack Berek Blog: ASTONISHING PRICES ACHIEVED AT THE LATEST WESTLICHT CAMERA AUCTION

Thursday, November 29, 2018

ASTONISHING PRICES ACHIEVED AT THE LATEST WESTLICHT CAMERA AUCTION

The latest WestLicht camera auction has come and gone and once again they were able to get some astonishing results.

The 33^rd WestLicht Photographica auction for the first time was opened by Leica Camera AG CEO Matthias Harsch and Leica Camera Austria Managing Director Alexander Sedlak. At the beginning both surprised with some important changes.

The next Photographica Auction will be presented at Leitz Park in Wetzlar under the new name of Leitz Photographica Auction (www.leitz-auction.com) in June of 2019, including a new logo.

With the historic name of “Leitz”, the entire know-how of the Leica Camera AG will be used in the future to be able to offer great collectibles and rarities in exciting auctions to an even greater number of interested parties all over the world.

The successful 33rd auction in Vienna was dominated by big name photographers. With a price of 156,000 euros, the Leica M-P black paint "Gérard Bois" scored the highest price. The camera, which started with 80,000 euros, was owned by the photojournalist Gérard Bois. He was known as Gérard Aimé, especially for his photos of the 1968 riots and student protests in Paris.

Another top prize shows the great interest in Leicas of famous photographers: For 72,000 euros, a collector secured the M2 of the lost US war photographer Sean Flynn. The camera (starting price: 30,000 euros) accompanied the son of Hollywood legend Errol Flynn during the Vietnam War, in Cambodia and in the Six-Day War in Israel.