Culture / Auctions

1931 Leica camera sells for 528,000 euros

A 1931 Leica camera, which belonged to German winemaker Karl Henkell, has sold for 528,000 euros at an auction held in Vienna by Westlicht on Saturday.

May 30, 2013 | By AFPRelaxnews

1931 Leica camera

A 1931 Leica camera has sold for 528,000 euros ($683,000) at an auction that included rare photos and the camera that snapped an iconic shot of an American sailor kissing a nurse the day World War II ended.

The rare Leica, which belonged to German winemaker Karl Henkell, fetched more than three and a half times the expected price at the Vienna sale held by auctioneers Westlicht on Saturday.

Other models by the famed German camera firm also fetched far higher prices than expected. A prototype Leica M3 estimated at 70,000 euros sold for 432,000, and a prototype Leica Reporter 250 estimated at 30,000 euros fetched 240,000.

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The camera used by German-born American photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to shoot his famous picture of a US sailor bending over and kissing a young nurse in New York’s Times Square during victory celebrations after Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 sold for 114,000 euros.

A signed print of the photo itself sold for 24,000 euros. A 1949 photo by American photographer Irving Penn of his wife, “Woman in Chicken Hat”, went for 66,000 euros.

sailor kissing nurse


 
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