World's Oldest Camera Fetches $800,000 at Auction

VIENNA, Austria – The world's oldest commercially produced camera — built in 1839 in the early days of photography — was auctioned off this weekend for nearly $800,000, an auction house said.

The camera, a Daguerreotype by Susse Freres of France, went to an anonymous online bidder for $792,333, which also makes it the world's most expensive camera, the Vienna gallery and auction house WestLicht said in a statement.

The camera, which was found in an attic in Germany by a professor, is made of soft wood and weighs between 11 and 13 pounds, WestLicht director Peter Coeln told Austrian radio. He said it was likely to have been built before August 1839.

"It was clear to me straight away that this was a camera from the first year of photography," he said.

Bids were placed from around the world, including South Korea, Japan, the U.S. and France. The starting price was $134,610.