2.4 million euros for a camera

James Jannard, the founder of Oakley and Red Digital Cinema, can be happy to add a few dollars to his petty cash: Jannard – who according to Forbes is a quadruple billionaire – offered a Leica belonging to the ‘Nullserie’ (zero series) at the Westlicht camera auction, and it sold for 2.4 million on March 10, 2018. This made the Leica with serial number 122 the most expensive camera in the world. As a result, it replaces another Leica also belonging to the zero series (number 116), which was also sold at the same auction house in Vienna on May 21, 2012, for 2.16 million euros. The 122 – which according to Westlicht is in “fantastic original condition” – was sold to a private collector in Asia.

The famous zero series was produced at the Ernst Leitz factory between March and July 1923, in preparation for the serial production of Lei(tz) Ca(mera)s that came onto the market in 1925. Of the probably 25 units produced in the zero series, it seems that only three remain in their original condition.