A collection of 46 never-before-seen photos from The Beatles' first concerts in the United States was auctioned off for more than $350,000 at a New York auction house on Wednesday.
The evening's biggest sellers included a close-up of John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing into a microphone, which sold for $30,000 and an image of the four Beatles shot from behind, which went for $68,500.
The auction, held at Christie's in Manhattan, was expected to bring in about $100,000, but the grand total ended up being $361,938.
The Washington, D.C.-based photographer behind the show was 18 when he took the photos.
Mike Mitchell, who is now 65, said that the thought of someday auctioning off the photos for such a large sum had never crossed his mind as a rookie photographer vying for a press pass to see the Fab Four.
"Nobody knew where The Beatles would go," he said. "They kind of marched and everybody fell in step behind them."
When Mitchell heard The Beatles were making their first trip across the Atlantic, he managed to get a press pass from a magazine he worked for....
