By Gary Krakow of thestreet.com
Prices On The Rise For Pre-WW2 Leica, Photos
If you have any really old film cameras in your home or, if you know of one – and it's a model that looks just like this one – then it's time to dust it off – and think about selling it..
The photo above shows an o-Series Leica prototype, built in 1925. One of 25 “betas” made and one of only 12 known to still exist today. This model turns out to be a real “oldie-but-goodie”.
Over the weekend, this nearly 90-old, o-Series camera was sold for 2.16 million Euros (or $2.79-million U.S.) at auction in Vienna.
According to AFP, another o-Series was sold last year for only 1.32 million Euros while yet another sample sold for only 800 thousand Euros just five years ago.
These prices don't explain why Leica's re-branded Panasonic-made point-and-shoot camera are marketed in the U.S. at double the price – for the same device.
And, it's not just the cameras that are worth a fortune. A mid-19th century daguerreotype just sold for 228 thousand Euros and a 1954 print featuring Pablo Picasso for 24 thousand Euros.