A photographer from England is now selling never-before-seen photos of The Beatles from their first U.S. concert back in 1964.
The British Invasion
Mike Mitchell, who was 18 at the time of the performance, snapped the photos during the band's appearance at the Washington Coliseum on Feb 14, 1964, two days before the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and the Baltimore Civic Center on Sept. 13, 1964.
There are a total of 400 negatives of the Fab Four sold at the Omega Auctions in the United Kingdom on Saturday, March 24. The photos were sold for £253,200 or about $358,000.
"The resulting negatives, taken only with ambient light, since Mitchell had no flash, were put away in a box and sat for decades in his basement, according to a description provided by Omega Auctions. "The advent of digital technology allowed them to be fully realised as luminous records of this historical moment. The photographs are intimate, due to Mitchell's proximity to the band; they are moody, the result of existing light; and they are innocent, reflecting a time of heightened optimism."
The negatives also include 46 images that were seen for the first time in 2011 at a special auction hosted at Christie's in New York
"I was very motivated to come up with stuff that was as unique as could possibly be," Mitchell recalled. "I looked and noticed that nobody was up on the stage. I thought, I wonder what it would be like to be up on the stage and see what I could get up there."
An auctioneer described the photographs as an "incredible archive" and said that it only proves how, decades after the band rose to fame, "shows that The Beatles market is still as strong as ever."
In addition, a black Mercedes 500 SEL AMG previously owned by Geoge Harrison from 1984 to before his death in 2001 due to lung cancer also went up for bidding. It was sold for £85,000 or about $121,000.
The auction also sold a hotel directory signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and The Beatles manager Brian Epstein. According to the official website of Omega Auctions, it was expected to sell for £10,000 or around $14,000.
Other The Beatles memorabilia sold at Omega's previous auctions include an unreleased track written and performed by Harrison, a rare demo tape, a piano used by McCartney and Lennon, and random autographed items.
