Yahoo NewsVIENNA (AFP) – A daguerreotype, the world's first commercially produced camera, dating from 1839 and bearing the rare signature of its French inventor, sold at auction in Vienna Saturday for a record 732,000 euros (898,000 dollars).
The wooden sliding box camera was privately owned by a family of opticians in northern Germany for generations. The 170-year-old apparatus was built in Paris in limited numbers from Jacques Daguerre's original plans by his brother-in-law, Alphonse Giroux.
The daguerreotype, one of only a dozen in the world, all in museums, was put up for sale by the WestLicht auction house. It said the buyer, who requested anonymity, is an international collector.
The winning bid for the historic camera was 610,000 euros, to which was added a 20-percent tax levy, bringing the total price to 732,000 euros.
Don't throw away your old cam yet.
