Probably the most famous
photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt is “Kiss in Times Square.” It is his famous 1945 V-J Day celebration
shot. The photograph came to symbolize the end of World War II when it was published with the title “Victory Celebrations” by Life magazine on August 27, 1945. An original copy, signed by Alfred
Eisenstaedt, will go up for auction on May 24th, and the Leica IIIa rangefinder
he used to take it with will be auctioned off the next day.
The auctions will take place
in Vienna, Austria as part of the WestLicht Photographica Auction. According to
WestLicht, the signed photo is estimated to sell for as much as $23,500 and the
camera could fetch up to $32,780.
The Leica IIIa was in
continuous use by Eisenstaedt for 50 years after he shot the iconic photograph
in times square. Just two years before
his death he used it for a final portrait session with President Bill Clinton
and his family
I am surprised, I thought Eisenstaedt's camera would bring more.
ReplyDeleteIf recent auctions by WestLicht are any indication, the camera will bring substantially more than the estimated amount.
DeleteI think it is absurd what some people pay for used Leica stuff just because it is a Leica.
ReplyDeleteWhat's it to you? I suppose you don't see anything wrong for a collector to pay 20 thousand dollars for an original Nikon rangefinder because it is not a Leica or 2.1 million for a Honus Wagner baseball card. Some people just have to criticize Leicas and Leica owners anyway they can, regardless if it makes sense or not.
ReplyDeleteI learned a long time ago that demeaning others to make oneself look better rarely works. That is especially true when it comes to Leicas. It seems that some owners of other cameras have to do so to make themselves feel better about not owning one. Heinz hit the nail on the had when he referred to this as the photographic equivalent of penis envy.
DeleteI agree. This discussion reminded me of a similar situation where someone severely criticized the Leica and Leica owners. One person spoke up by comparing the Leica to a Rolls Royce. The discussion immediately deteriorated into the poster being raked over the coals by using the Rolls Royce mataphore and an ongoing tirade against Rolls Royce with similar, nonsensical arguments about how bad Rolls Royce cars actually are as they are often used against Leicas. One person went as far as saying that today's Rolls Royce are inferior because they are not British owned any longer. I guess that makes Leicas bad because their main share holder, Dr. Kaufmann, is Austrian.
DeleteI thought it was ridiculous to downgrade Leica because some of their equipment is made in Portugal, now it is even "foreign" ownership? Yet those complaints are usually coming from people that have no problem with their Japanese camera equipment being made in Taiwan, China or anywhere else in Asia but Japan. Do they even realize how stupid they sound?
ReplyDelete