Rare Leica rifle camera built for Luftwaffe heads to auction for $160,000
A one-of-one Leica rifle camera built for the Luftwaffe will reach Wetzlar with a roughly $160,000 estimate, complete with a 300mm Astro lens.
A Leica that looks built for precision shooting rather than street shooting is headed to Wetzlar with an estimate of about $160,000. The Astro Berlin camera stock, developed for the German Luftwaffe, is described as the only known example of its kind and will be offered at Leitz Photographica Auction No. 48 on June 13, 2026, at Leica Welt in Leitz Park.
The setup was engineered around a Leica IIIc body and fitted with an Astro Fernbildlinse 5/300mm lens, serial no. 38912. It also carries a viewfinder telescope mounted above the telephoto lens, a rare left-handed shutter release, two wooden grips, and a rear face rest meant to steady the user. With its olive-green finish, grey cradle and tripod mount, and the paired Luftwaffen Leica IIIc no. 390415, the outfit reads less like a consumer camera and more like an early precision instrument adapted for surveillance, targeting, and military use. Leitz says the paired Leica is one of the latest Luftwaffen-Eigentum cameras listed in the Leica Archives, and the exact rifle camera is shown in Lager I, Cameras, on page 87.
Leitz Photographica Auction says bidding will be available live in Wetzlar, by telephone, in writing, or online. Leica Camera’s press release says Leitz Photographica Auction has served as the official auction house for Leica Camera AG since 2017, a detail that helps explain why this sale draws such strong attention from Leica collectors and camera historians. The 48th auction is being framed as a major sale in its own right, with more than 400 lots reported across the catalogue and top-end highlights that include a black paint Leica MP-33 carrying a €700,000 to €800,000 estimate.
The same auction will also feature a Leica MP tied to Tazio Secchiaroli, the Roman photographer often credited as one of Italy’s first paparazzi and as the inspiration for Paparazzo in La Dolce Vita. Leitz lists his MP no. 368 as delivered on January 16, 1958, while Leica’s press release gives January 1, 1958, and both materials identify it as his personal camera. Put beside the Luftwaffe rifle outfit, the Secchiaroli MP shows the spread of Leica collecting, from wartime hardware built for observation to a camera embedded in celebrity history.
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