DEMAND IS rising for vintage cameras, especially those that can still be used. Top photo: A Sutton panoramic camera from the 1860s sold in May 2006 for $52,000. (Photograph by Christie’s); Bottom photo: Frederic Ives’ Kromskop camera, circa 1900, could make three simultaneous exposures. (The History of Photography as seen through the Spira Collection.)

Antique cameras appeal on a number of levels and for a variety of reasons. Some aficionados are fascinated by the elaborate mechanisms used to produce an image. Others appreciate the simple beauty of a traditional wooden camera. Still others look to camera collecting as a method for traveling back through time because the history of photography has always been aligned with important events. "Photography allows us to record the human experience, and that obviously has a significant impact on how we look at history because we are able to see it," says Jonathan B. Spira, a collector in New York. For Spira, chairman and chief analyst with Basex, a research and consulting firm, the lure is also personal. He was born into a family of camera enthusiasts. His grandfather was an award-winning amateur photographer in Vienna, and his father, Fred Spira, founded Spirotone, once one of the largest suppliers of photo accessories in the United States. Jonathan Spira grew up in a house full of cameras, and remembers a childhood when famous photographers were always visiting.

Michael Pritchard, director of photographic auctions at Christie’s, considers the Spira collection one of the world’s finest: It numbers approximately 200,000 items and includes cameras and camera equipment, along with photographs and photographic ephemera. "My father’s collecting philosophy—which I’ve inherited—is to look at the history of photography as a flowing timeline and to understand how photography and the world interacted," Spira says.

Early Exposure
Serious collectors covet the daguerreotype cameras above all others (see "Distant Mirrors"). Produced beginning about 1840, daguerreotype cameras are distinguished by their mechanism: A sliding box inside the camera allows the image to be focused on a ground-glass screen; the daguerreotype is then exposed on a specially made plateholder. Early daguerreotype photography was a dangerous process that exposed the photographer to mercury and iodine vapors. These early cameras were produced in extremely limited quantities, but at a level of craftsmanship more akin to a fine piece of furniture than to the mass-produced consumer cameras of today. "The irony is that the most interesting cameras are plain, boring wooden boxes that most people in the 19th century considered old technology," Spira says. "It would be like us hanging on to an old Pentium II PC."

L’ESCOPETTE CAMERA, circa 1890, features a walnut pistol grip that is part of a tripod. (The History of Photography as seen through the Spira Collection.)

Such pieces are not only beautiful, but quite rare. "I’ve heard that there are only around 200 daguerreotype cameras in the world, and I have three, so I feel fairly fortunate," says Bob Kulinski, president of the United Way in Akron, Ohio. Original daguerreotype cameras typically sell for between $5,000 and $6,000, but can go as high as $200,000 or more for an original Giroux, made by the first commercially viable camera manufacturer. Among the priced items in Kulinski’s collection are a four-lens Simon Wing model camera, circa 1887, valued at between $3,000 and $4,000; a quintessential American daguerreotype camera design, circa 1848, with chamfered front and rear panels, possibly produced by C.C. Harrison of New York, a similar version of which recently sold at auction for $14,000; and a late-period unmarked daguerreotype, probably produced by W.J. Lewis at a factory in New Windsor, N.Y., referred to as "Daguerreville," valued at $8,500 to $9,500.

The 19th century saw fantastic experimentation in camera design. Lacking the standard specifications that we take for granted today, manufacturers created many one-of-a-kind devices. They tried various folding mechanisms to enable more images on a single plate, unusual shutter assemblies to increase shutter speed, and cameras built in two components joined by a bellows to achieve a greater range of focus. Pritchard estimates that approximately 10,000 of these have survived and can usually be found in the range of $2,000 to $30,000. When rarity aligns with prime condition, prices can soar. In May 2006, Christie’s sold a Sutton Panoramic made in 1860 for $52,000.

The Spira collection includes such prized items as a circa 1890 Albert Darier L’Escopette camera made by E.V. Boissonas in Geneva. It boasts a walnut box body with a walnut pistol grip; the grip and two small brass front legs serve as a tripod. It is one of the first cameras to use roll film. Another item, the Ives’ Kromskop triple view, three-color camera, from around the turn of the 20th century, represents a model of American ingenuity. It received a patent for its unique prism lens system that allowed for three simultaneous color separation exposures.

Kulinski purchased his first antique camera, circa 1888, in the early 1980s. His collection today is worth in excess of $100,000. "They are very beautiful pieces, especially the European ones. The English ones in particular were meticulously put together by furniture craftsmen," he says. "You’ll find all the screws are exactly aligned, the dovetailing is precise and the finish is 95 percent intact, even today."

VALUE JUDGMENT From the 19th-century daguerreotype walnut boxes to the sleek spy cameras of the 20th century, an increasing number of collectors are fascinated with the history of photographic equipment. Most aficionados actually want to be able to use their investments, so collectors usually consider condition above other factors. While auction houses hold regular sales of photographic ephemera, buyers may still make treasured finds at antique fairs.

The modern photography era began with the arrival of the first Kodak roll-film camera in 1888. George Eastman of Rochester, N.Y., was the first to figure out how to manufacture flexible roll film. Early Eastman Kodak cameras came preloaded for 100 exposures, but required an owner to send the camera back to the factory where workers developed the pictures, reloaded the camera and returned it. The process seems incredibly cumbersome in these days of instant digital photos, but was revolutionary at the time. Roughly 5,000 of these cameras were made, and a fair number have survived. They originally sold for $25, an astronomical sum at the time, and they now fetch around $3,000 in good condition.

Other collectors specialize in manufacturers such as New York–based E. & H.T. Anthony, one of the first U.S. camera companies, which started in the early 1840s and was still making cameras well into the 1950s. A number of other firms, including American Optical and Scovill, were centered in Rochester, which became the nexus of the U.S. camera industry, thanks to Eastman’s activities.

Many collectors buy these cameras intending to use them, making condition extremely important in the after-market. Museum-quality cameras are particularly prized. "In terms of value, that can be the highest driver," Pritchard says. "Quality, usability and rarity are the key drivers to pushing up prices." A good example is a rare prototype of a classic 1937 Compass camera that achieved a world auction record of $272,000 in January 2001.

Optical Allusions
Pritchard also sees growing interest in well-made, post-World War II Japanese cameras that are still usable. "Digital has a lot of advantages, but there are hardcore people who want to take control over their picture taking, and these are the best way of doing that," he says. Pritchard says that collectors especially prize 35mm and 120mm roll-film cameras manufactured by companies such as Nikon and Canon, as well as a variety of German manufacturers, such as Zeiss, that entered the market after the war. "The optics were absolutely superb," he says. "With those lenses, they often have qualities that are quite distinctive, perhaps not so perfect, but definitely more distinctive. In some ways, modern cameras are almost too perfect." The first Nikon, which dates from 1948, would sell for somewhere between $24,000 and $30,000 today.

"Photography allows us to record the human experience, and that has a significant impact on how we look at history."

Allen Weiner, a collector and dealer in New York for the past 30 years, collects the Nikon F, the first 35mm single-lens reflex camera, produced in 1959. "They started the whole SLR revolution," he says. "They took the market away from Leica, and it immediately became the favorite camera of the professional photographer." He counsels collectors to look for the first series of the Nikon F, of which about 1,000 were made.

Leicas, revered for their quality and usability, represent the strongest single sector among modern cameras because of their prestigious marque. Yet they remain relatively affordable and can be found in the $300 to $2,000 range. While only the rarest of Leicas fetch truly exceptional prices, according to Pritchard, a few examples manufactured in the 1980s could turn a tidy profit if sold today. Because so many were made and because Leica collectors generally expect to be able to use them, mechanical condition trumps cosmetic condition in the resale market. "It’s kind of the Rolls-Royce of cameras," Pritchard says. "There are a lot of enthusiastic collectors, and the company has published a lot of documentation on its history." A Leica M3 purchased for $500 to $600 20 years ago is worth $1,400 to $1,600 today.

Spira, who is a technologist by trade, also collects early electronic and digital cameras—items from a relatively recent era that he believes is underacknowledged and ripe for growth. Digital cameras, he says, still fulfill the definition of the word "photography" and can be seen as a component of the evolution of filmless photography that dates as far back as 1839. The history of photography has witnessed a series of such leaps, from wet plate to dry plate and from roll film to digital, each of which led to more portability and greater ease of use.

More specialized types of cameras also spark enthusiasts’ interest. Spy cameras dating from the 1880s onward—so-called because they were made to impersonate other objects, such as matchboxes, pens, books or women’s purses—are popular among collectors. "The very best camera we have is a French camera in the shape of a pistol called an ‘Ejalbert photo revolver,’" Weiner says. "It’s fabulous. It looks exactly like a pistol from that time period, with a lens inside the barrel." Weiner estimates its worth somewhere between $85,000 and $110,000. Christie’s held its first sale of spy cameras in 1991, an auction that is still considered a landmark event. "That sale made more than $600,000, considerably in excess of our expectations, and we discovered there was a whole untapped market," Pritchard says. Spy cameras are now included in other camera auctions. Christie’s has also seen an interest in the stereoscopic cameras used to make images for stereoscopes, which were, as Kulinski puts it, "the Victorian parlor’s equivalent of television."

Whatever their reason for collecting, passion drives most camera devotees. While online auctions at Christie’s and other houses have made the buying and selling of antique cameras more efficient, this pastime demands a rare dedication to seek out truly unusual pieces. "You have to have an emotional reason for buying a camera. When you look at a camera, you have to feel a connection, a tug at the heartstrings," Spira says. "You have to be willing to drive 12 hours in the pouring rain and walk in the mud at [Massachusetts antiques fair] Brimfield at 4 in the morning."
 
Lee Sherman is a San Francisco–based freelance writer.