If you enjoy obsessing over old things and also paying an absurd amount of money for them (read: Antiques Roadshow), Pop Photo recently stumbled upon something on eBay that might be of interest to you: an old Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera that once belonged to famed artist Andy Warhol. If you want to see through the same lens Warhol did, then this instant camera can be yours for just $50,000.
Here’s what we know about this particular camera. It’s listed by the Revolver Gallery, a Beverly Hills, California-based art dealer that specializes in vintage Pop Art, a movement Warhol was most associated with. Described as “excellent condition,” the camera and flash was last used by Warhol at the old Limelight club in 1986 in New York City, which he then gave to his longtime friend, Baird Jones. Revolver writes: “Warhol met Jones in the 1970s NYC party circuit, where Jones was a renowned nightlife promoter. Warhol wrote in his diaries of Jones, noting the lavish parties he threw for ‘all the rich preppies’ at Studio 54 and Jones’ privileged position as the son of People magazine founder, Cranston Jones. Warhol and Jones began working together promoting events and gallery shows during the 1980s in the up-and-coming East Village arts scene. Included in this lot are reproduction flyers for events collaborated on as well as reprint period photographs of Warhol and Jones.” The camera comes with a letter signed by Jones that states the camera was owned by Warhol and was gifted to Jones. Warhol died in 1987, and Jones died in 2006.
We don’t know if the camera still works, although Pop Photo thinks it probably does. If so, you can still find film to use it with via the Impossible Project. Besides owning a piece of history, whoever ends up buying it will get the chance to play with the original social media camera once used by a famous artist.
(Images via Revolver Gallery)
