THE LAST GOLD LEICA

WHEN this gold-plated Leica Luxus II camera, encased in lizard skin and complete with its original crocodile case, popped up on the show in 2001, it was thought to be the rarest camera in the world and duly valued at £5,000. Although naturally thrilled at this news, its owner decided to hang on to it for sentimental reasons — after all, he was a keen amateur photographer who had been given it after World War II and used it throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It was definitely a wise decision. Over the next 12 years, the value of the camera — the only surviving example of four special-edition versions made in 1932 — skyrocketed to an estimated £1.7 million. Finally, the potential rewards outweighed sentimentality. Alas, when it finally came up for auction in 2013, the camera actually fetched a comparatively modest £380,000. Still, not a sum to be sniffed at.