A 1931 Leica camera has sold for USD 683,000 at an auction that included rare photos and the camera that snapped an iconic shot of an American sailor kissing a nurse the day World War II ended.
The rare Leica, which belonged to German winemaker Karl Henkell, fetched more than three and a half times the expected price at the Vienna sale held by auctioneers Westlicht yesterday.
Other models by the famed German camera firm also fetched far higher prices than expected.
A prototype Leica M3 estimated at 70,000 euros sold for 432,000, and a prototype Leica Reporter 250 estimated at 30,000 euros fetched 240,000.
The camera used by German-born American photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to shoot his famous picture of a US sailor bending over and kissing a young nurse in New York's Times Square during victory celebrations after Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 sold for 114,000 euros.
A signed print of the photo itself sold for 24,000 euros.
A 1949 photo by American photographer Irving Penn of his wife, "Woman in Chicken Hat", went for 66,000 euros.
