Overview
- The fully analog Leica M-A, finished in silver chrome with white leather and engraved with “Miserando atque eligendo,” bore the exclusive 5,000,000 serial number on the body and lens.
- Leitz Photographica Auction in Vienna secured the result after about ten minutes of telephone bidding between two participants, and the buyer was not named.
- The final price outstripped the roughly €60,000–€70,000 estimate by about a hundredfold, according to the auction house.
- Leica Camera AG had gifted the camera to Francis in 2024, with catalog photos documenting the presentation to the late pontiff.
- Auctioneer Wolfgang Pauritsch led the sale, the auction house waived its usual buyer’s premium for this lot, and the price ranks as the second-most-expensive Leica ever sold.