The first commercially built camera, a Daguerréotype built in 1839 by Alphonse Giroux - brother to the inventor of photography - is to be auctioned in Vienna in May this year.
The Photography Blog, basing itself on a press release by Westlicht Photographica Auction, announced that the world's oldest camera will soon go under the hammer - for an expected 500,000 Euro (750,000 Canadian Dollar).
More or less the iPad of it's time, the Giroux Daguerréotype was the model that got photography started in a serious way, culminating - as for now - in the incredibly widespread use of digital camera's in most aspects of modern life: from hobby to science, from Flickr to Digital Journal.
The camera is said to be in pristine condition, and it had been more or less hidden away up to now in the possession of several generations of a German family. Although the starting price has been set at a mere 200,000 Euro, insiders estimate that the final price may go up to half a million or more.
The unique camera, completely unknown up until now, has been produced in Paris, starting in 1839, and circulated in a limited number. It is based on original plans drawn up by its inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre; although it was his brother - Alphones Giroux - who made the actual production possible.
Whoever will become the new owner, will also come into the possession of an extremely rare original instruction booklet (in German) with the title: “Practical Description of the Daguerreotypes”. That publication is by Georg Gropius, Berlin 1839, and consists of 24 pages with illustrations and plates showing the equipment used for producing Daguerreotypes.
