Auctioned Hasselblad Lunar cameras raise $54k for charity

 

 

It’s been a busy week for auctions involving Hasselblad cameras with ties to earth’s largest satellite—and eyebrow-raising hammer prices.

Following the $900,000 sale of a camera that (probably) went to the moon at an Austrian auction house, Hassy auctioned off a pair of their Lunar cameras at an exotic car festival in Florida this past weekend. The face value of the cameras is about $14,000, but fetched upwards of $54,000 at the event. All proceeds will be donated to a charity that provides support to people living with spina bifida in the Jacksonville, FL area.

Apparently a bit of a bidding war broke out between two gentlemen at the auction. As the price approached $28,000 for one camera, “a deal was struck for an extra camera to be auctioned,” according to the press release, helping to raise the total far higher than expected. The prizes also included a set of shots taken by motorsports photographer Bill Warner using a Hasselblad camera (likely not the Lunar).

 

An actual screengrab from the Hasselblad Lunar catalog.

It’s a great story, and it helped out a great cause. It’s easy—very, very easy—to poke fun at the Hasselblad Lunar. As you may remember, it's a Sony NEX-7 wrapped in an ergonomic grip, plus some extra bulk and a different logo, adding about $5,000 to the cost of the camera without affecting the image quality, speed, or menu system. It’s not so different than, say, a diamond-studded iPhone case, a gold-plated toilet seat, or a mask on a Scooby Doo villain. But whatever Hasselblad was thinking when they “designed” this camera, it worked toward a very noble cause—perhaps it was part of the plan all along. If you'd like to donate to this cause, head to the Spina Bifida Association's website. 

(Via Petapixel)