Historically significant cameras and vintage camera accessories take center stage at the 48th edition of the Leitz Photographica Auction, set to take place on 13th June at the World of Leica in Wetzlar. The highlights include two Leica MP cameras from the 1950s, purpose-built for photojournalism, as well as a late 19th-century Lumière Cinématographe—one of the groundbreaking devices used to record and project the world’s earliest motion pictures. Bidders can participate live on-site, via telephone, or online. Separate from the event, Leitz Photographica Auction will host an additional online-only auction titled “Leitz ON” from 13th May to 14th June. Leitz ON offers a broad spectrum of cameras, camera accessories, and photographs spanning from the 1920s to the present day.

Leitz ON

“Each year, a plethora of cameras, lenses, and photographic equipment are submitted to us. Due to time constraints, we cannot include them all in our main auction. For this reason, we have decided to introduce an additional online-only auction titled ‘Leitz ON’”, explains Alexander Sedlak, Managing Director of Leitz Photographica Auction.

Bidding for “Leitz ON” lots will be open from 13th May to 14th June. “Estimates range from the high three-figure to the low five-figure euro segment,” Sedlak adds. More exceptional rarities, including pieces from the high-end segment, will be featured in Leitz Photographica Auction 48, taking place on 13th June at Leica Welt in Wetzlar. Bids can be placed live on site, in written form, online or by telephone.

Rarity in black paint

One of the standout rarities is the Leica MP-33 black paint. With only 402 units – just 141 of them in black paint – ever produced, the “M Professional” (MP) ranks among the rarest Leica cameras ever made. The concept originated from requests by prominent American press photographers such as Alfred Eisenstaedt and David Douglas Duncan who sought to combine their M-series cameras with the advantages of the Leicavit rapid winder, then available only for the Leica IIIf. The example offered now, MP no. 33, was originally delivered to Brandt, Sweden, on 29 July 1957 and is accompanied by a matching black paint Leicavit and a black paint / brass-mount Summicron 2/5cm lens no. 1474885. 

The camera of the first Paparazzo 

With only 261 units produced, chrome-finished MPs are also hugely popular with collectors. A particularly interesting chrome MP – due to its distinguished provenance – will be offered at Leitz Photographica Auction 48. Delivered on 1st January 1958, the Leica MP no. 368 was documented as the personal camera of Tazio Secchiaroli. His dynamic and candid photographs of celebrities along Rome’s Via Veneto in the late 1950s profoundly influenced modern photojournalism and even inspired a now iconic character in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). Said character was called “Paparazzo” and would eventually go down in history by lending its name to a new phenomenon in photography culture.