The camera, bearing the serial number ‘88840′, is one of four Luxus Leica IIs models ever made and dates from 1932, according to Bonhams which is set to auction the camera in Hong Kong on 22 November.
Auctioneers expect it to fetch between £480,000-£720,000, and not the ‘£1.7m’ suggested in press reports this week.
‘It’s just [media] speculation… This certainly hasn’t come from us,’ a Bonhams UK spokesman told Amateur Photographer.
The camera comes with a 50mm f/3.5 Elmar lens and a ‘crocodile’ camera case.
The whereabouts of the other three models in the series is unknown, according to Leica factory records shown to Bonhams.
The £1.7m figure seen in media reports appears to have been based on a world record set last year by a different camera, a Leica O-Series model which sold for €2,160,000 at the Westlicht auction in Vienna, Austria.
On the Leica IIs sale, Bonhams says on its website: ‘The British owner of this camera was a keen amateur photographer who acquired the Leica soon after World War II and used it for many years.’
The Leica IIs was a late addition to the Hong Kong sale which, as we reported last month, will also see the auction of a gold-plated Leica 1 Luxus, expected to fetch up to £570,000.