Wolfgang Pauritsch has been sitting behind the buyer’s counter at “Bares for Rares” since 2013 Photo: ZDF/ Guido Engels
By Nils Kottmann
At this auction, you don’t know which is rarer: the object for sale or the bid?
“Bares for Rares” dealer Wolfgang Pauritsch (50) auctioned a rare Leica camera for 14.4 million euros: “I was shaking like a little child,” said Pauritsch on the Instagram channel of the ZDF show.
Because the camera is said to have belonged to Oskar Barnack, the inventor of the 35mm camera. Barnack (1879–1936) was an asthmatic. He invented the Leica so that he no longer had to carry heavy equipment and thus revolutionized photography.
The Leica is a prototype of the inventor Oskar Barnack Photo: Leica Camera Classics/dpa
According to Hessenschau, the camera that Pauritsch auctioned off is more than 100 years old and was one of the first prototypes that Barnack built. The hobbyist is said to have photographed his family life with it. His name is still engraved on the top of the viewfinder. There should only be 23 of them in total. Their value was estimated at two to three million euros before the auction in Wetzlar (Hesse).
It is not known who bought the Barnack treasure. One thing is certain: the auction is a high point in Pauritsch’s career as an auctioneer: “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top that again,” he said in the clip.
His name is still engraved on the top of the viewfinder Photo: Leica Camera Classics/dpa