© Mike Mitchell

Unpublished and almost unknown, Christie’s is auc­tion­ing the then-eighteen-years-old Mike Mitchell’s select work from the British band’s first vis­its to the U.S. in 1964:

I had heard their music and just knew I had to be at that con­cert. I asked one of the mag­a­zines I worked for if they would get me a press pass but I was really “shoot­ing for myself.” The pic­tures were taken by an 18 year old kid who had led a very shel­tered life and had just come to real­ize pho­tog­ra­phy could take him any­where. I wasn’t approach­ing it as doc­u­ment­ing an event ; I saw it as an oppor­tu­nity to do great portraits.

57 years later, his sheer will turned fifty of his select prints at Christie’s with a start­ing bid of $100,000.

Update The entire cat­a­logue was sold for a total of $361,983 ($68,500 for the photo above), and TOP has a great scoop on the story.