Sixth Wetzlar Camera Auction: October 12 is the red-letter day for collectors

It only seems like yesterday when the inaugural Wetzlar Camera Auction was held in 2019. Now the sixth Wetzlar Camera auction, curated and run by Lars Netopil and Jo Geier, is here with a list of rare and fascinating items. I’ll add my usual warning that the people bidding on these items will largely be collectors rather than users.

The 61st Leica

The first item in the Sixth Wetzlar Camera Auction is quite rare in that only 150 examples were made, and this is also the 61^st production Leica from 1925 with the serial number 186. The camera is a I Model A with an Anastigmat 5 element lens which quickly changed to an Elmax and almost as quickly again it became the 4 element Elmar lens with which many Leica collectors and fans are familiar.

This one has an unusual early film spool, which I have not seen before. It also comes with one of the earliest variants of the ETRIN case. It has been modified for standard film cassettes, but it also comes with two examples of the earliest Type A FILCA film brass cassettes. Because they are rare and early, Anastigmat cameras are highly sought after by collectors.

Catalogue No 2 Start Price €40,000 Estimate €80,000-100,000

Rare prototype from Barnack’s reign

This is by far the most interesting and rare item in the auction. It is a prototype camera, constructed during the lifetime of Oskar Barnack, which offers many features not seen on production Leicas until many years later, long after his death. This die-cast Leica III prototype from 1933/4 has a rear door which opens outwards in the same fashion as that on the Leica M3, which did not reach the market until 1954.

The Leica IIIc with a die-cast body did not appear until 1939. The prototype also has a rewind crank with a fold out handle, which was not seen until the Leica M4 appeared in 1967. There is nothing unusual in this, as Barnack and his colleagues were inveterate testers. There are many other examples of features being introduced in prototypes which did not appear in production models until many years later, such wind on levers and bayonet lens mounts. This auction item is a one-of-a-kind rarity which pointed the way forward for Leica. I expect it to fetch a very high price, which is almost impossible to predict.

Catalogue No 15 Start Price €160,000 Estimate €300,000 -400,000

Experimental Elmar 5cm

I expect that the winner of the previous item will also want to acquire this experimental Leitz Elmar 5cm f/3.5 lens from 1934, which was only discovered recently while the auction catalogue was being prepared. Up to the 1950s, when the bayonet mount Elmar appeared, all Leitz 50mm/5cm Elmar lenses had a control knob on the front ring for changing aperture.

This required the photographer to look at the front ring while changing aperture. This recently discovered item has a scale on the lens which allows the photographer to change aperture, still using the knob on the front, without having to look at the front ring of the lens. It is also one of a kind and certainly would complement the previous item perfectly. 

Catalogue No 16 Start Price €3,000 Estimate €6,000-8,000

…and a drawing to go with it

There is, in fact, a drawing of the lens on that prototype camera, which is offered as the next item, so the purchaser will probably want all three items.

Catalogue No 17 Start Price €3,000 Estimate €6,000-7,000

Leica IIIg prototype

This is a prototype of the Leica IIIg from 1956. The most unusual feature here is the film counter under a magnifying glass, which did not appear in the production version. This is similar to that on the Leica M3, which had appeared two years earlier.

Another feature is the larger mount, which appeared in an M bayonet version on some prototypes. The camera carries a 5cm f/2 Summicron in LTM, Leica Thread Mount. Fewer than five examples of this prototype are known to exist.

Catalogue No 33 Start Price €80,000 Estimate €150,000=200,000

Sixth Wetzlar Camera Auction: Prototype 400mm f/8

A 40cm (400mm) f/8 lens for use on the Visoflex I with LTM cameras. Only two prototypes of the lens appeared in 1953, and the other one is in the Leica factory museum. This lens type never went into series production.

Catalogue No 54 Start Price €20,000 Estimate €40,000-50,000

Leica M3 prototype

Leica M3 Prototype from 1953. It is appropriate that one of the 67 M3 prototype examples appears in the auction on the 70th anniversary of the M3, the first Leica M camera. This differs from the production model in several respects. The first one is that there are ‘corners’ on the top plate, which also appeared on some very early production models.

There is also an uncovered frame counter, and the wind and self-timer levers are different. There is a button on the door at the back for marking film with a pin, a feature which did not make it into the production models. Finally, the 5cm f2 Summicron lens has an unusual two lever design.

Catalogue No 62 Start Price €80,000 Estimate €150,000-200,000

US Air Force Leica M2

This is an example of a gray paint M2, which is one out of an order of 20 produced for the US Air Force in Germany in 1960. Only about ten of these are still known to exist. It also has four frame lines – 35mm, 50mm, 90mm and 135mm which anticipate the M4 from seven years later, albeit with a slightly different design for the 135mm frame lines.

The camera comes with a 5cm f 2 DR Summicron lens for use with a close-up goggle attachment. This is one of the rarest production M cameras, and I have not seen one coming up at auction before.

Catalogue No 72 Start Price €80,000 Estimate €150,000 – 200,000

One-handed sailor

This is also a model which has US military origins. It was produced in 1964 as a prototype for the US Naval Service, which wanted a camera that could be held one-handed following the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Only ten such cameras were made, of which five were sent to the US Navy in 1964.

However, a decision was made in 1966 not to proceed with a production order. This camera comes with an electric motor drive, an operating handle, a see-through viewfinder and a fixed focus 90mm f/2 Summicron lens. The camera has only 1/250^th, 1/500^th and 1/1000^th shutter speeds. This is another extreme rarity which has not been seen at auction before in such complete condition.

Catalogue No 77 Start Price €80,000 Estimate €150,000-200,000

All wrapped up and ready to go

In the immortal words of Monty Python, “Now for something completely different”. Art lies in the eye of the beholder, and this one is supposed to be a ‘work of art’.  Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude made a name for themselves doing large-scale wrapping projects, such as at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin.

A German photographer called Wolfgang Volz worked with the couple on their projects, sometimes to document them and sometimes to produce work that formed part of the overall artwork. The Leica red and blue M4 used in this case had been redesigned by Volz for a project by Der Spiegel in New York. Subsequently, the camera and its 35mm Summicron lens were wrapped and signed by Christo and have remained wrapped until this day. One that is probably more for the art buffs than the average camera collector, I think. 

Catalogue No 80 Start Price €40,000, Estimate €80,000-100,000

DR Summicron prototype

Many older Leica enthusiasts are familiar with the 50mm f/2 DR (Dual Range) Summicron lens. This item is a prototype which differs from the production model by having a sliding action on the goggles to give the two ranges (close up and normal). With the production version, you must attach the goggles first and then lift the focus scale over a ‘barrier’ to access the close-up scale, which is a lot less elegant, but was, presumably, easier and cheaper to make. This is a rare item, which I have not seen before.

Catalogue No 137 Start Price €12,000 Estimate €20,000- 25,000

Russia in space

Not everything in the auction comes from Leitz and Leica. I have mentioned before that there is a thriving market for Russian items from the Soviet era. This is a Leningrad Space FAS-1, which was designed for the Soyuz -3 Lunar Space Program. This is a 35mm camera with a Leica-like inner core, but no rangefinder. It has a spring-wound motor drive and comes with the usual large knobs for operation with gloved hands. The camera comes with 37mm and 100mm lenses. It has two speeds, 1/140^th and bulb operable in both mechanical and electrical (remote) modes.

Catalogue No 203 Start Price €25,000 Estimate €50,000-60,000

Nikkor 360-1200 zoom

My final item hails from Japan. It is a rather large Nikon Nikkor 360-1200mm f/11 Zoom in F mount. Nothing like this is made any more and, even when this one was offered in 1976, only a few were made. Not a ‘walking around’ lens. 

Catalogue No 245 Start Price €8,000 Estimate €15,000-20,000

The Auction

The Sixth Wetzlar Auction will be held in the Hotel Bürgerhof, Wetzlar, and online at noon CET (11 am BST) on Saturday 12 October 2024.

As always, the catalogue is full of interesting historical items. Going through catalogues for such auctions can be a history lesson. It also helps when one of the main individuals behind the auction is one of the world’s top Leica historians.

Visit the Wetzlar Camera Auctions website

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