A mystifying economic phenomenon.

One of the stranger manifestations of our celebrity obsessed culture is the premium value accorded to personalty owned by famous people.

A recent example is the proposed auction (Bonhams, 11/30/2014) of Yevgeny Khaldei’s Leica III, which is expected to fetch $400,000 or more. The photographer and his camera are famous as the takers of the famous – if staged – image of Russian soldiers planting their foul flag on Berlin’s bombed out Reichstag parliamentary building. Not long after they were busy building the Berlin Wall.

Hey. mister! Can you spare $500,000 for this clunker?

I have no issue with Khaldei having staged this scene – the Recihstag had fallen to the Russkies a couple of days earlier. Many great images have been staged – the Marines on Okinawa, Capa’s dying Spanish Revolutionary soldier, etc. – but the images remain powerful and relevant to the history of the time. After all, all paintings and sculptures are posed and it’s not like we are about to trash Michelangelo’s Pieta just because the subjects were modeled by a street bum and a whore and the real things had been dead for nigh on 1500 years if, that is, they ever lived in the first place. All these pieces are outstanding examples of their respective genres and deserve the accolade of value which economics attributes to rarity and quality.

But why on earth would you pay $399,500 over the market price for Khaldei’s Leica III when good used ones remain abundantly available. I should add that the model III was not an especially good camera in the first place, given its pressed metal construction. (The later IIIC finally adopted die castings which made for a much more robust tool). Then again, people will pay up for one of Steve McQueen’s motorcycles or for gowns worn by Audrey Hepburn.

Mystifying.

Khaldei’s Recihstag image, complete with Ivans.

The ever arrogant Germans, oblivious as ever to outside sensibilities have, needless to add, recently renovated and reopened the structure.

The Reichstag today.

To see the Reichstag at its best, click here.