First Die-Cast Camera (1933/34)

Hammer Price 562.500 Euro incl. premium


While Oskar Barnack was still alive, the first considerations for a completely new design of the Leica camera, with a die-cast shutter crate, were made. The camera offered here is considered to be the UR-model of all later Leica cameras of this type - both the Leica IIIc introduced 1939 and its successor models, as well as the Leica IV completed in 1936. Extremely striking features of this camera are that it is the first one to have a rear door that opens upwards, as well as a fold-out rewind crank - details that were not introduced commercially until the Leica M3 (1954) and M4 (1967).