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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,Dear friends of Leitz Photographica Auction,From the very beginning, the camera industry was driven by intense competition. Manufacturers constantly sought new ways to make cameras smaller, faster, more versatile and easier to use. One innovation inspired the next, and companies competed not only through technical improvement, but also through entirely new ideas intended to capture the imagination of photographers.This remarkable period of experimentation produced countless prototypes, test models and unconventional designs. Some introduced concepts that would later find their way into successful production cameras and help shape the future of photography. Others remained fascinating technological dead ends %u2013 ideas that were explored, developed and ultimatelyabandoned. Today, these rare witnesses to photographic history offer a unique insightinto the creativity, ambition and ingenuity of the engineers who created them.Few cameras illustrate this spirit of experimentation better than one of the most extraordinary lots in our upcoming auction: the Leica BOX camera prototype. Developed as an ultra-compact 18 %u00d7 24 mm camera in the mid-1950s, it measures just 100%u00d7 64 %u00d7 48 millimetres, making it one of the smallest Leica cameras ever built. Only two examples were made. One is on display at the Leica Museum in Wetzlar and, unlike the offered camera with the serial number 000.01, is not functional. The Leica BOX is regarded as one of the most exceptional rarities in the Leica universe.Another lot quite literally brings history back to life. The Summicron-M 66 f/2 is a re-edition ofthe legendary Elcan 66 mm f/2 from the late 1960s. Commissioned by the US Navy, Ernst Leitz Canada %u2014 known as Elcan %u2014 produced only 200 examples of this high-resolution lens with its unusual 66 mm focal length, which was used primarily for reconnaissance and intelligence purposes during the Cold War. The lens is one of the rarest in the Leica M-system. In its honour, Leica introduced a reinterpretation in 2026: the Summicron-M 66 f/2. Production is limited to just 660 examples, and we are pleased to offer the lens bearing serial number 001 at Leitz Photographica Auction 49.Another highlight is the Leica R6 no.1747647 personally used by Sebasti%u00e3o Salgado (1944%u20132025) during his celebrated photographic coverage of the burning oil fields of Kuwait in 1991. The lot includes Salgado%u2019s Leica Macro-Elmarit-R 2.8/60mm no. 3390243 %u2014 the lens he primarily paired with his Leica R6 during the Gulf War %u2014 as well as a limited edition of his book Workers and two original gelatin silver prints from the Kuwait series, which was first published in The New York Times Magazine.We look forward to welcoming you to Leitz Photographica Auction 49 at Leica World in Wetzlar!Sincerely,Alexander SedlakManaging Director