Never-before-seen photographs of the Beatles’ first US concert in Washington DC were sold in New York for more than $361,000 (€254,471).
The Fab Four played their first US concert on February 11, 1964, at the Washington Coliseum, two days after their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Mike Mitchell, of Washington, was 18 at the time and took photographs just feet away. Fifty silver gelatin prints he made from negatives were sold individually at Christie’s auction house. The images, plus photos from another Beatles concert, had been estimated to fetch a total of just $100,000.
Among the highlights is a backlit photograph Mr Mitchell shot while standing directly behind the Fab Four. It sold for more than $68,000 and had been expected to bring between $2,000 and $3,000.
An image of an animated Ringo Starr on the drums estimated to bring between $3,000 and $5,000 sold for $8,125.
Christie’s said the shot depicts a rare moment where Starr was both drummer and lead singer on I Wanna Be Your Man – a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, but made famous by The Rolling Stones.
Cathy Elkies, Christie’s director of iconic collections, said: “Beatles fans are fierce. To uncover this trove of images that’s never been published will really excite people.”
In a recent interview, Mr Mitchell, 65, who now works as an art photographer in Washington, described the rollicking scene at the Washington indoor arena – not only of screaming fans but also of his unrestricted access.
“It was a long time ago. Things weren’t that way then,” he said. “It was as low-tech as the concert itself. The concert was in a sports venue and the sound system was the sound system of a sports venue.”
Simeon Lipman, Christie’s pop culture consultant, said it was not clear why there were not many other photos of the concert. He said Mr Mitchell’s black-and-white photographs were remarkable for their “animated” and “intimate” depiction of the Fab Four.
Mr Mitchell stored the negatives for years in a box in his basement. For the silver gelatin prints in the auction, he used digital technology to do “much better darkroom work that could ever have been done in a traditional darkroom”.