The daguerreotype camera, one of the world’s oldest cameras, was sold to an anonymous bidder at auction for almost 800,000 USD. Made by French firm Susse Freres no later than 1839, this camera was found in a German attic and sold at a Vienna auction house. It was originally owned by Prof. Max Seddig (1877–1963) who was, among other things, godfather to the founding of the Josef Schneider Optical Works in Kreuznach.
Being the only remaining Susse Frères model, bids came from around the world for the daguerreotype. This process, only perfected in 1839, was deemed the first practical form of commercial photography.
Peter Coeln, head of the Vienna auction house, stated that he was convinced the piece was from the earliest years of popular photography. “I was of course shocked because every camera dealer dreams of one day owning a daguerreotype camera,” said Coeln.
The daguerreotype was named after the Frenchman who invented the process, Louis Daguerre. Each camera developed a positive image, unlike later photographic processes, on a plate of mirror-polished silver, and did not allow for any reproductions. But the relative speed of the process compared to previous techniques made this camera the first kind of “popular” photography, and was particularly suitable for portraits.
The Daguerreotype can be described as a sliding box camera – made of two boxes lined with black velvet, one slightly smaller, a close fit into the larger. The inner box with open front and screen in the back had to be shifted carefully into or out of the outer box for focusing. After focusing the screen had to be replaced with the holder for the light-sensitized plate.
Being the only remaining Susse Frères model, bids came from around the world for the daguerreotype. This process, only perfected in 1839, was deemed the first practical form of commercial photography.
Peter Coeln, head of the Vienna auction house, stated that he was convinced the piece was from the earliest years of popular photography. “I was of course shocked because every camera dealer dreams of one day owning a daguerreotype camera,” said Coeln.
The daguerreotype was named after the Frenchman who invented the process, Louis Daguerre. Each camera developed a positive image, unlike later photographic processes, on a plate of mirror-polished silver, and did not allow for any reproductions. But the relative speed of the process compared to previous techniques made this camera the first kind of “popular” photography, and was particularly suitable for portraits.
The Daguerreotype can be described as a sliding box camera – made of two boxes lined with black velvet, one slightly smaller, a close fit into the larger. The inner box with open front and screen in the back had to be shifted carefully into or out of the outer box for focusing. After focusing the screen had to be replaced with the holder for the light-sensitized plate.
The first photograph of Abraham Lincoln was believed to have been taken using a daguerreotype, in the 1840s. Today few cameras of this type survive intact in private hands, and the discovery of the Susse Frères model, in a Munich attic where it had rested intact since 1940, provoked a frenzy of interest.
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