World's Oldest Camera Fetches $800,00 at Auction
Sunday, May 27, 2007
VIENNA, Austria - The world's oldest commercially produced camera - built
in 1839 in the early days of photography - was auctioned off this weekend
for nearly $800,000, an auction house said.
The camera, a Daguerreotype by Susse Freres of France, went to an anonymous
online bidder for $792,333, which also makes it the world's most expensive
camera, the Vienna gallery and auction house WestLicht said in a statement.
The camera, which was found in an attic in Germany by a professor, is made
of soft wood and weighs between 11 and 13 pounds, WestLicht director Peter
Coeln told Austrian radio. He said it was likely to have been built before
August 1839.
"It was clear to me straight away that this was a camera from the first year
of photography," he said.
Bids were placed from around the world, including South Korea, Japan, the
U.S. and France. The starting price was $134,610.
