This year, Leitz Photographica Auctions is celebrating its 20th anniversary! They are delighted to be able to offer you some particularly rare gems from the Leitz/Leica product world as well as a wide range of other interesting collector’s items in celebration of the 40th anniversary auction, which will be held on 11 June at the Leitz Park in Wetzlar.
From the many exceptional exhibits, they picked out the historically unique Leica 0-Series with the serial number 105. The personal camera of Oskar Barnack, the inventor of 35 mm photography.
LEICA 0-SERIES NO.105 'OSCAR BARNACK'
Only approximately 23 of 0-Series Leicas were produced in 1923 to test the market, two years before the commercial introduction of the Leica A. Only around a dozen survived to the present day. Among these extremely rare cameras, one is of particular historical importance. The 0-Series with the serial number 105 was the personal camera of the the inventor of the Leica - Oskar Barnack.
This inconspicuous-looking black-painted camera shows a patina of years of use. Some of the parts have been exchanged by the owner. The Galilean finder shows a distinctive engraving on the top: ‘Oscar Barnack’. The inventor used the camera until 1930, when he gave it to his son, Conrad, and began using a Leica I Model C with interchangeable lenses. It stayed in the family ownership until 1960, when it was sold to a passionate U.S. collector. The lot includes an original leather lens cap on a string, later aluminum cap, engraved with initials 'O.B.' and heavily-modified Nettel camera that Barnack used for his photographic research studies, as well as numerous documents and letters concerning the Barnack's camera. The Leica 0-Series no.105 is not only the most distinguished Leica existing but also one of the major historical milestones from the history of photography.
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