The incredibly rare camera discovered 12 years ago on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow is expected to sell for a world record price of more than £1.7million. The only surviving model of a Leica Luxus II camera is gold-plated and encased in lizard skin and was one of just four special edition versions made in 1932.
The camera has the serial number 88840 and comes with a 50mm Elmar lens, which features a bell-push release. The model is now thought to be the rarest camera in existance as the whereabouts of the other three is unknown.
It is also being sold with an original crocodile camera case, the first time one has ever come to light. The Luxus II was gifted to a British enthusiast after World War Two, used avidly for several decades and then put away somewhere until the owner took it to Antiques Roadshow for a look-see in 2001.
“Marc Allum, antiques expert and a presenter on the show, said it has the potential to be the ‘most valuable find ever’.
‘It was a strange experience at the time,’ Antiques Roadshow presenter Mr Allum told the Telegraph. ‘It was put in front of me and I looked at it in complete disbelief. ‘I never expected to see a camera like that.’ Despite having an estimate of £800,000, it is thought that the camera could fetch a seven figure sum after a Leica 0 series sold for almost £2million last year
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