Agence France-Presse (AFP) offers a rare opportunity to buy unique prints capturing important historic moments through its live auction on 3 October 2021.


One of the images available in the auction: 29 June 1986 – Mexico, Mexico – Diego Maradona holding the World Cup after Argentina’s victory over West Germany in the finals at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City. © AFP

The auction will be conducted under the direction of DIGARD AUCTION and will be held at the ‘we are’ event space in Paris and online at Digard.com as well as on the American platform Artsy.net. There will be two weeks of open bidding available ahead of the auction at Artsy.net.  The selection on sale is made up of photographs illustrating current events from 1944 – the founding year of AFP – up to 1998, when the Agency started rolling out digital photography. Click here to view the full catalogue.

Each photograph, in black and white or colour, will be offered as a unique ‘special edition’ copy:
– On analogue baryta paper for manual prints made from original black and white negatives,
– On analogue and digital baryta paper for prints made from digital files from scans of black and white negatives,
– On chromogenic paper for prints made from digital files of scans of colour originals.

The prints will be signed and stamped by AFP, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. The auction catalogue, in French and English, will be available to consult and purchase on the digard.com website.