Christie's to Auction Bogota's Oldest Photograph
A rare 1842 daguerreotype of Bogota is set to go under the hammer in Paris on November 14, 2026.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Photography
Christie's will offer the oldest surviving photograph of Bogota, an 1842 daguerreotype showing Rue de l'Observatoire, at an in-person sale in Paris on November 14, 2026. The image is estimated at between €60,000 and €80,000.
Why it matters
The photograph is recognized as the oldest surviving image of Bogota and an early example of the daguerreotype process, which was publicly introduced in France in 1839. Its sale brings a rare piece of early photographic history to auction.
The daguerreotype is a metal plate measuring 19.5 by 14.5 centimeters, with an estimated value of €60,000 to €80,000 (about US$67,000 to US$89,000). The auction estimate reflects a single lot, and the final sale price remains undetermined ahead of the November 14, 2026 sale.
The players
Christie's
Christie's is a major international auction house that is holding the sale including the Bogota daguerreotype as part of a three-day event in Paris.
Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros
Gros was a French diplomat and photographer who took the 1842 daguerreotype of Bogota's Rue de l'Observatoire.
The details
French diplomat and photographer Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros captured the image in 1842 at 11:00 a.m. with an exposure of 47 seconds, during which pedestrians moving along the street did not register on the plate. The photograph is part of a collection of 363 19th- and 20th-century photographs once owned by French journalist Roger Therond, and it was previously displayed in Paris in the 1960s and late 1990s.
Timeline
1839: Daguerreotype publicly introduced in France.
1842: Gros captures the Rue de l'Observatoire image in Bogota.
1965-1966: Photograph displayed at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris.
November 14, 2026: In-person Christie's sale in Paris.
Roadmap
Gros's 1842 image of Bogota was made just three years after the daguerreotype was publicly introduced in France in 1839, placing a Colombian city within the first generation of the technology's global spread. The photograph's survival and planned sale highlight how few plates from that earliest era remain in circulation today.
Collectors and photography enthusiasts interested in bidding should note the November 14, 2026 date and the €60,000 to €80,000 estimate, which translates to roughly US$67,000 to US$89,000. Because the sale is held in person in Paris, prospective buyers will need to plan travel or arrange representation ahead of the auction.
The takeaway
Early daguerreotypes like the Bogota view are rare survivors of photography's first decade, and their auction prices reflect both historical importance and scarcity. Anyone tracking photographic collecting should watch how such early images perform against their estimates.
What happens next
The Christie's in-person sale including the Bogota daguerreotype takes place in Paris on November 14, 2026.
Further reading
Explore more early and historic camera work in the Photography section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by ColombiaOne: News from Colombia and the World.
