Leica camera sets record auction price

A 1923 Leica camera has beat all the records, having sold for $2.16 million in Vienna. The final bid was seven times what had previously been estimated. The photo camera, manufactured by the iconic German brand almost a century ago, has become the most expensive camera in the world, Austrian Kleine Zeitung reports. According to the WestLicht auction house, specialists expected the camera to fetch around $400,000. The auction house did not reveal the buyer's name. The 1923 camera is one of only 25 test models produced by Leica in 1923, two years prior to launching serial production of these cameras. Only 12 of 25 are known to have survived to present days. The previous record for such a camera was set in May 2011, when the same model sold for $1.9 million to an Asian private collector. Leica specialized was founded in 1849, and remains one of the leading camera manufacturers.