The Luxus camera comes with a 50mm f/3.5 Elmar lens, ‘faux lizard skin body covering’ and gold-plated fittings.
It will go on show at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London between 27-29 October before going on sale in Hong Kong on 22 November.
The auction will take place a day before a one-off Leica digital rangefinder camera, co-designed by Apple’s senior vice-president of Design Jonathan Ive, goes on sale as part of a project first announced over a year ago.
It will be auctioned at the (RED) Auction, by Sotheby’s in New York, to raise money for an organisation that helps fight diseases such as AIDS.
More than 500 models of the full-frame Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera (pictured above) were made, involving the manufacture of almost 1,000 prototype parts over the 85 days it took to create.
The camera was designed with help from Australian Marc Newson, who created the look of the Pentax K-01 interchangeable-lens camera that was announced last year, and discontinued a year later.
Commenting on the unique Leica, Newson said: ‘The attention to each and every detail of this camera – from its outer shell to the magnificent optics – will delight a collector who appreciates the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship.’
Leica chairman Dr Andreas Kaufman said that input from Ive and Newson ‘sets a new and unprecedented standard in modern photography’. He added: ‘As the only one ever to be produced, and boasting their unrivalled aesthetic, this Leica camera will truly create its own historic category when it goes under the hammer…’
