17TH PHOTO AUCTION

Photographs from the 1920s and 30s caused big surprises at the 17th WestLicht Photo Auction: Jaroslav Rössler's photo of a man in a hat started at 9,000 euros and went to the highest bidder after an exciting bidding battle for 36,000 euros. Theodore Lux Feininger's avant-garde view of the legs of the dancer Gret Palucca, taken in 1928 at the home of his father Lyonel, changed hands for a sensational 28.800 Euro (starting price: 2.800 Euro). The sales rate was an outstanding 74%. "We are very pleased with the best result ever at a WestLicht photo auction," said Managing Director Peter Coeln. "The result shows the growing importance of photography as a medium and that our strategy of focusing on quality is right."

32ND CAMERA AUCTION

The 32nd WestLicht Camera Auction brought a double record result. The new world record price of 2.4 million euros (2 million hammer price plus premium) makes the Leica 0 series No. 122 the most expensive camera in the world to date. Moreover, the auction is the most successful in the history of the traditional Viennese auction house. The Leica 0-series was called with a starting price of 400,000 euros and increased 6-fold. In the end, a private collector from Asia won the bidding war. One of the decisive factors for the record price was certainly the fantastic original condition of the camera. In 1923, two years before the first Leica came onto the market, Ernst Leitz produced about 25 such test cameras, of which presumably only three have been preserved in their original condition. Overall, 91 per cent of the 530 lots were sold at the 32nd WestLicht Camera Auction, of which almost 100 per cent were Leica items.

The video of the world record can be found here.

Photos: Marco Pauer/WestLicht Photographica Auction