Vienna: A Leica camera from 1923 has sold for a record €2.4 million euros ($3.7 million) at auction in the Austrian capital Vienna, according to the Westlicht museum.
The museum attributed the "remarkable" sum to the "fantastic" original condition of the Leica 0-series No. 122.
"It is the highest price ever paid for a camera at an auction," a museum statement said, where the piece was auctioned.
This pre-production Leica 0-Series, 1923, no. 122, set a record price of $3.7 million.
Photo: LiveAuctionsThe camera was made two years before the first Leica was put on the market, and is one of three test cameras known to be in their original condition, according to the Westlicht.
Ernest Leitz produced 25 test cameras during that time.
The camera to hold the previous record was a Leica 0-series No. 116, which the museum sold for €2.16 million back in 2012.
"Several collectors in the room and on the phone took part in the bidding war and raised the starting price of €400,000 to a result times higher," the statement said of Saturday's auction.
AAP
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