Marilyn Monroe pics sold for nearly $150,000 (RM540,000)

In this Sept. 9, 1954 file photo, Marilyn Monroe poses over the updraft of a New York subway grating while in character for the filming of The Seven Year Itch in New York. - AP pic

NEW YORK, Dec 17 - A collection of photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken for Vogue magazine the year she died has been auctioned in New York for nearly $150,000 (RM540,00.00).
Marilyn Monroe as Playboy Magazine centre-fold 1953

A spokeswoman for Christie's auction house says the 36 photos taken by Bert Stern sold for $146,500 yesterday.

The pre-sale estimate was $100,000 to $150,000.

Christie's says the photos from a 1962 shoot were the last professional images taken of Monroe before she died that year of a drug overdose.

They ran in Vogue instead as a memorial.

They're among more than 100 Monroe images being offered for sale at Christie's. The sale continues Wednesday.

Also at Christie's Tuesday, four Helmut Newton photographs, titled "They're Coming, Paris (Naked and Dressed)," sold for $662,500.

The buyers were anonymous. - AP