The Molteni Detective camera is a late-19th-century concealed-style plate camera of the type sold for discreet, hand-held photography before the rise of roll-film cameras. As a small-maker detective camera, it sits in the collector category of early wooden plate apparatus rather than mainstream production photographic equipment.

Auction evidence for the Molteni Detective camera is thin: a single UK saleroom hammer result of £3,200 in 2018 is the only data point on record, and as a wholesale auction figure it excludes buyer's and seller's commission. With just one sale to anchor the value, today any realistic estimate of what one is worth must treat that £3,200 as indicative rather than a reliable median, and the price a given example sells for will hinge heavily on condition, completeness and provenance.