- Leica has sold a rare camera belonging to the late Pope Francis at auction
- The Leica M-A 'Pope Francis' raised €6.5 million / $7.5 million for charity
- The camera and Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 lens are full of exclusive features
Leica is no stranger to special-edition cameras, but even by its standards the personalized M-A and lens it gifted to the late Pope Francis is something to behold – and the set has fittingly just raised €6.5 million (around $7.5 million / £5.7 million / AU$11,660,000) for charity at auction.
Leica gave the special M-A 'Pope Francis' to the late Pope in 2024 with a Noctilux-M 1:1.2 50mm ASPH lens, and it originally had an estimate of only €60,000-€70,000. However, the one-off set, which came with several unique features including a custom presentation box, fetched around a hundred times that figure at the Leica Photgraphica Auction this week. The entire proceeds are going to His Holiness’s personal charity.
The Leica M-A is a minimalist, fully-mechanical 35mm film camera that's known for being a purist's choice. So what unique touches does the 'Pope Francis' version have? Firstly, it has an exclusive serial number (5,000,000), which Leica reserves for "distinguished individuals" and is prized by collectors. Naturally, it also has a "special white covering", along with a white-painted base plate and back doors.
But the more unique touches are the special engravings (which you can see in the gallery below). The flash cover is adorned with the Keys of Peter, while the back of the top plate is engraved with Pope Francis' motto 'Miserando atque eligendo' (which means 'lowly but chosen').
Both the body cap and the lens cap are also engraved with the Coat of Arms of the State of Vatican City. Which is pretty exclusive as body caps go.
The lens is also covered with personalized touches too, with the Noctilux-M (which typically costs $8,555 / £7,160 / AU$13,590) finished in chrome and featuring engravings filled with gold and white paint.
With a white presentation box (also adorned with the Coat of Arms of the State of Vatican City) finishing things off, this clearly isn't a set that you'd typically associate with the late Pope Francis – and it isn't clear whether or not he ever actually used it. However, given his charity work he'd surely approve of the incredible €6.5 million it raised.
Leica's record-setters
The M-A 'Pope Francis' edition isn't the most expensive Leica camera sold at auction. That world record was set in 2022 when a 0-series model used by Leica inventor Oskar Barnack fetched a staggering €14.4 million (then around $15.1 million / £12.3 million). Earlier this year another rare Leica 0-series went for €7 million.
However, it is the highest fee for a Leica camera sold at a charity auction. Alexander Sedlak (Managing Director of Leica Camera Classics and Leitz Photographica Auction) said it was “certainly one of the most exciting bidding battles in our company’s history – and entirely befitting this extraordinary lot.”
It wasn't the only prestigious Leica lot auctioned this week. Even though it was only the backup model of the Leica M3 that Theodor Heuss (the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany) gave to Queen Elizabeth II of England as a diplomatic gift in 1958, another M3 also fetched €156,000 (around $180,000 / £137,000 / AU$278,000).
While that camera is engraved with the initials “E II R” on the top plate, giving it some exclusivity, it goes to show Leica's incredible appeal to collectors who can't get enough of its combination of history, classic design and special-edition sparkle.
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