A June camera auction that includes one of the rarest Leicas of the 20th century also raises the lid on the cutting edge of surveillance tech during the Cold War.  

The devices are listed at the 46th Leitz Photographica Auction in June. 

Stylish in the office, and able to capture an image of a political dissident at the same time, this briefcase camera was used by the KGB in the 1960s. Image courtesy Leitz. 

 

Attracting most attention at the sale is a £1-million Leica, one of a select group of very early mass-produced cameras that changed the way we see the world. 

But further down the price list are a small collection of cameras that might have changed the world in equally dramatic ways. But secretly. 

These cameras were used by the secret policemen and spies of Soviet-sphere countries during the Cold War. 

They could happily have featured in an early James Bond film or a John Le Carre novel, though, in reality, spying was very often a rather tedious and bureaucratic business. 

James Bond using a miniature camera. His gadgets had real-life equivalents.  

 

Out of the office, a KGB officer could walk happily into any setting carrying his briefcase. A quick adjustment to point the autofocus lens that hides behind the fastener at his target and he can squeeze the case to snap a picture. 

Inside the case hides a modified 1960s Zorki-6 camera. A complex of levers clicks the shutter and winds the film on ready to shoot again. 

If auction estimates are correct, it will cost you around £1,000 to take this camera home. 

A 1980s Soviet miniature camera. Image courtesy of Leitz. 

 

A tiny, four-lens camera from the 1980s shows advances in miniaturisation. Just 5.2cm wide, the device will cost you around £500. 

The Stasi were the German Democratic Republic’s internal security police. The huge extent of their surveillance became apparent after the fall of the Berlin Wall as East Germans were allowed to look at their own files. 

Leitz are listing a camera of a previously unknown type that snapped 9mm by 9mm pictures from a compact 1.5cm by 3cm body. 

With a catalogue estimate of €6,000 to €8,000, this Cold War relic is expected to sell for as much as around £6,700.

This Soviet miniature camera was based on the famous Minox cameras James Bond wielded on screen. Image courtesy of Leitz. 

 

Espionage gear does occasionally come up for auction. 

But naturally, this stuff is usually kept secret. 

The collapse of the Soviet Union’s government - and many of its satellite states - opened up a rare opportunity to squint at the materiel of the secret state. 

A 2021 sale of spy gear included collections from the KGB Espionage Museum. 

A “spy purse” with hidden camera realised $32,000, making a mockery of its $3,000 estimate. 

A camera in a model of a packet of John Player Special cigarettes was sold for around $20,000.

The Leitz Auction 46 takes place on June 27, 2025, and the catalogue is online now and open for bidding.