The Panavision PSR 35mm movie camera that was used for most of the principal photography in the original 1977 ‘Star Wars’ movie has been sold at auction for $625,000 — the highest price ever paid for a movie camera. While the price is record-setting for both Star Wars memorabilia and film movie cameras, it still pales in comparison to prices seen in the world of still photography — the most expensive camera was auctioned earlier this year for $1.9 million.
(via The Guardian)
Despite what you might think, this isn’t some random snapshot we found online — it’s actually the world’s most expensive photograph. Titled “Rhein II”, it’s a 1999 photograph by Andreas Gursky showing the Rhine river. Last night it sold for a whopping $4,338,500 at Christie’s.
Gursky has become quite the Midas of photographers: this is his second photo to claim the title of “world’s most expensive”, with the first being 99 Cent II Diptychon ($3.89M and now the 4th most expensive).
(via Christie’s via NSoP)
Behind the Gare St. Lazare is one of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson‘s best known photographs, and is frequently cited as an example of his “decisive moment” approach to photography. The photograph was made in 1932, but the oldest known print is dated 1946. That print will be sold at a Christie’s auction on November 11th along with 100 other signed prints, and is expected to fetch up to ~$250,000.
(via Christies via Foto Actualidad)
Here’s a strange (and extremely rare) piece of camera gear: the Leica Telephoto Assembly Rifle. Also known as “the Leica Gun”, it was made for photographers at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, and became popular among wildlife and sports photographers during the interwar years. One of them will be auctioned off at the Tamarkin Rare Camera Auction on October 30th, and is expected to fetch up to $100,000.
Who knows, maybe shoulder stocks will make a comeback as a form of image stabilization.
Leica Telephoto Assembly Rifle (via Leica Rumors)
Why sell an old photo as something historical when you can market it as something mythical? A few days ago someone listed an old civil war photograph on eBay with the description:
Original c.1870 carte de visite showing a man who looks exactly like Nick Cage. Personally, I believe it’s him and that he is some sort of walking undead / vampire, et cetera, who quickens / reinvents himself once every 75 years or so. 150 years from now, he might be a politician, the leader of a cult, or a talk show host.
The subject’s resemblance to Nicolas Cage caused the listing to go viral, but before the seller could rake in the big bucks with the $1,000,000 Buy It Now price, eBay apparently pulled the listing. Too bad… it would have been one of the most creative ways to sell a print that we’ve ever come across.
(via The Online Photographer)
Photo-enthusiast etxenike recently won a spool of Verichrome Pan 116 film in an auction, and discovered that it had already been exposed. He had the film developed, and found that five of the eight photographs survived — not bad for film that has been sitting around since the 50s or 60s!
Read more…
Photographer Mike Mitchell was 18-years-old back in 1964 when he captured The Beatles on their first US tour. After sitting in a box for 45 years, 50 of the photographs were individually sold at a Christie’s auction on Wednesday for a whopping $361,938. The Observer writes,
“I wasn’t expecting this, when I took those photos all those years ago. It’s a pretty good feeling,” Mr. Mitchell told The Observer after the auction had ended. During the bidding he watched wide-eyed from the audience as the prices kept rising, in some cases surpassing their estimates by a factor of ten. Frantically, he texted with his sister, who is in Florida. “We were going ‘Wow, Wow, Wow!’”
The collection was previously valued at $100,000, but the photograph above (estimated at $2,000-$3,000) was itself sold for $68,500. You can see all the images and their sale prices here.
(via SilberStudios via PopPhoto)
Image credits: Photographs courtesy of Christie’s
There’s a new entry in the list of most expensive photographs, and this time it’s not a fine art photo. Over the weekend, the only existing photograph of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid sold at auction for a whopping $2.3 million to billionaire Bill Koch, becoming the 4th most expensive photo in the world.
One of the few artifacts remaining from Billy’s life is a 2×3 inch ferrotype taken by an unknown photographer sometime in late 1879 or early 1880. It is the only picture of Billy that is universally agreed upon as an authentic photo of Billy. The ferrotype survived because after Billy’s death, Dan Dedrick, one of Billy’s rustler friends, held onto the picture and passed it down in his family. [#]
The tintype photo was previously estimated to be worth between $300K and $400K.
Billy the Kid: Ferrotype (via CNN)
A Leica 0-series camera made in 1923 was sold this past weekend at WestLicht Photographica Auctions for a staggering €1.32 million (~$1.89 million). Only about 25 0-series cameras were manufactured to test the market before Leica began commercially producing the Leica A. It’s the most expensive camera ever sold, but is still only half the price of the most expensive photo that was auctioned earlier this month.
Read more…
Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled #96″ from 1981 has become the world’s most valuable photograph after selling for a staggering $3.89 million at a Christie’s auction yesterday (it was estimated to be worth up to $2 million). The winning bidder was Philippe Segalot, a private advisor to some of the world’s wealthiest art collectors. The photo takes the top spot away from “99 Cent II Diptychon” by Andreas Gursky, which enjoyed five years as the world’s most valuable photo after selling for $3.35 million back in 2006.
(via ARTINFO via Popular Photography)
Image credit: Photograph by Cindy Sherman
