42nd Leitz Photographica Auction: Terry O’Neill’s Morning After and a 1948 Leica Reporter for €900,000

The 42nd Leitz Photographica Auction on June 9 and 10, 2023, saw a wide variety of vintage cameras, lenses and photographs up for sale. Among other objects, a rare Leica M3 black paint with black counter dial, as well as a Leica Model A Anastigmat, attracted great interest among bidders.

Bids could be placed on-site at Leitz Park in Wetzlar, via telephone and online. Standing next to many other historical cameras, a Leica 250 GG Reporter managed to fetch the highest price of the event – €900,000, including buyer’s premium.

In the field of photographs, the piece Cagliari by Massimo Vitali brought the highest auction result – €33,600 (also including premium). Massimo Vitali, born in 1944, became famous for his large-format colour photographs. Cagliari depicts a holiday scene on a beach in Sardinia, full of strong colours and a high level of detail. The photograph achieved the top price in the photography auction.

The event once again lived up to the unique reputation it holds in the world of photography. Held twice a year, the Leitz Photographica Auction is one of the world’s largest and most renowned platforms for vintage cameras and accessories.

The forty-second event started on June 9 with the photography auction entitled Modern Times. Among the one-hundred items up for grabs were photographs created by Harold Edgerton, Raoul Hausmann, Imogen Cunningham, Helmut Newton, Ansel Adams and Walker Evans. The earliest piece in the line-up – Child at Window by Lewis Hines (1874-1940) – was taken in 1910, 85 years before Cagliari (Red Umbrella), 1995.

Coveted special edition by Terry O’Neill

The auction of historical cameras as well as vintage camera accessories followed on the next day and saw equally extraordinary results, not limited to upper price categories.

In addition to lots that were already predicted to be the highlights of the auction – such as the Leica 250 GG Reporter with MOOEV Leica-Motor, produced in 1948 (which achieved a price €900,000 including premium after a fierce bidding battle) and the Leica M3 black paint ‘First Batch black dial’ (auctioned for €540,000) – items outside the highest price ranks also brought surprising results.

A Thambar 2.2/9 cm Tropical Case – a protective lens case made of aluminium – found a new owner for €4,800, including premium, €3,000 above the lot’s estimate. Furthermore, a Leica MD-22 ‘Betriebskamera’ (the term denominates factory internal use by Leica only) also caused a sensation. Estimated at €20,000 to €22,000, the camera achieved a hammer price of €132,000 (including premium).

The Leica MP ‘Terry O’Neill’ boasted an even higher price jump. Terry O’Neill, a British photographer who died in 2019, was also the creator of the photograph entitled The Morning After, which had fetched an auction price of €7,800 on the previous day.

O’Neill’s very own Leica MP, released in 2018 as one of 35 Special Limited Edition cameras, was auctioned, together with a Leica Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH lens and a limited-edition print of Audrey Hepburn (showing her with a bird on her shoulder) and originally estimated at €32,000 to €36,000. After an intense bidding duel, the lot achieved a final price of €240,000, including premium. Moreover, there was eager bidding for other cameras from the ownership of famous photographers.

The ‘M2 black paint Walker Evans’ (lot 192, estimated at €60,000 to €70,000) achieved a price of €72,000 euros, and the ‘M3 black paint John Bulmer’ (lot 194, estimated at €80,000 to €100,000) was worth €102,000 euros to a collector (both prices including the buyer’s premium).

72,000 euros for a good cause

One of Leitz Photographica Auction’s recurring elements is the charity lot – an object auctioned entirely for a good cause. The 42nd Auction’s charity lot – a Leica M11 ‘Brass’ – made for another highlight. Inspired by the idea of a Hollywood star with an affinity for photography, Leica produced a camera in 2021. The outer metal parts are made entirely of brass and therefore show signs of use much more quickly than conventional aluminium models. Only two copies were made. One was given to the actor himself; the other has now been auctioned off for charity.

The Charity Lot is a fixture in our auction series that attracts a lot of interest from collectors. I am very pleased that with the Leica M11 ‘Brass’ we were once again able to offer a special rarity and achieve an amount of 72,000 euros for the charity Licht ins Dunkel.

— Alexander Sedlak, Managing Director of Leitz Photographica Auction

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‘Brass’ had been estimated at €12,000 to €14,000. The hammer price was €60,000 euros, the buyer’s premium €12,000 euros – all proceeds will be donated to charity.

Next stop Vienna, November 2023

As usual with the Leitz Photographica Auction, the next event is already well underway. The team of Leica Camera Classics is now accepting cameras and photographs for the event, the 43rd Leitz Photographica Auction, which will take place in Vienna on 24-25 November 2023. As confirmed by the organisers, it will also focus on photographs and cameras by famous photographers.

All images in this article are reproduced by permission of Leica Photographica Auctions. All rights reserved.

More information is available here

Macfilos reviews of previous auctions and collections

Vintage cameras and lenses




9 COMMENTS

  1. I went to see a Terry O’Neill exhibition today in New York. I learned 1) that the Morning After image was 100% staged and 2) that Faye Dunaway was actually his girlfriend at the time. It certainly puts the image in a totally different context, at least for me…

    • These facts were all known at the time. The photograph is nothing without the Oscar and the actress and little more than that with them. I’m not really that impressed with photos which rely on the fame of the subject, unless I am particularly interested in that subject. I have no interest in Faye Dunaway or her Oscar, but there is no accounting for taste when it comes to photography. I more or less said this above in the context of the ‘Red Umbrella’ image.

      William

      • If we all liked the same images, listened to the same music, drove the same cars, etc etc it would be a very boring world… I still very much like thee image, and the retrospective was well worth the visit.

  2. Tastes differ I guess. I really like The Morning After and a few of the other photographs but personally I would not even pay one cent for the Cagliari Red Umbrella. Obviously to each their own.

    • Personally, I really liked the Stieglitz portrait.

      The female nudes I didn’t understand, but it’s good to see the site isn’t prudish. Times change, and who knows what will be acceptable in 30 years? Cameras with naked brass showing, oh my!

      • Kathy, FYI the Helmut Newton nude was taken in the 70’s. Newton died in 2004. The image of Vera by Raoul Hausman was taken in the 30’s, and he passed away in 1971. So these are certainly not new images being 50 to 80 years old.
        I met Helmut Newton in person in the 80’s at a showing he had in Cologne during Photokina. The event was rather interesting to say the least, with a lot of characters there doing their version of Mike Myers as Dieter from Sprokets.

    • Photographs are, indeed, a matter of personal taste. That is particularly true for the Cagliari Red Umbrella. The Ansel Adams was nice, but actually did not sell after reaching about 20K , so a high reserve must have been in place. The Walker Evans ‘Studio’ image was remarkably small and not what I was expecting.

      The big surprises in the camera auction were the 200K + premium for the Terry O’Neill special edition camera and Audrey Hepburn print and the 60K + premium for the brass M11 charity lot. Both were bought by the same person.

      William

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