World’s Oldest Camera Sold
The world's oldest commercially manufactured camera, a daguerreotype, sold for nearly $800,000 at auction.
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May 29, 2007 – What would the world’s oldest camera be worth? The answer: over three-quarters of a million dollars. An 1839 daguerreotype camera was sold for a reported $792,333 at a photography auction house in Austria this weekend, according to the AP.
An anonymous online bidder beat out other interested parties from around the globe. The camera, made by the French company Susse Frères, is a singular sliding box camera that professor Wolfgang Haase discovered in an attic in Germany.
Experts date the camera back to 1839, making it not only the oldest commercially manufactured camera but now the most expensive camera in the world, according to a statement by the WestLicht auction house.