Camera could sell for record price - 27/01/2010

A Jacques Daguerre camera dating back to 1839 could reach a record price at auction, it has been suggested.

That is according to Galerie Westlicht in Vienna, which believes the camera could beat the existing record for such an item when it goes on sale this spring.

In the camera's favour is the fact that it comes complete with initials and, therefore a partially-known history.

Created by Jacques Daguerre (1787 – 1851), the model is considered one of the building blocks for the modern-day camera. There are only about a dozen left, most of which are housed in museums.

Gallery director Peter Coeln said that while its maker and seller are known, the intermediary period is a little less clear.

He told the Associated Foreign Press: "There is no serial number, unlike other apparatus in use at the time. But it carries in the initials 'uv', which suggests it may have been made for someone of the higher classes in the 19th century."

The auction will take place on May 29th in the Austrian capital.

The current record holder is an unsigned daguerreotype, which sold for 576,000 euros (£500,000) in 2007.