More than 350 previously unseen photos of The Beatles at two early US shows have fetched £253,200 at auction.
Mike Mitchell captured the Fab Four arriving at the venues, at pre-show press conferences and on stage in Washington DC and Baltimore in 1964.
A total lot of 413 negatives were sold with copyright for £253,200 by Omega Auctions. Forty-six of those have been seen before when auctioned in 2011.
A black Mercedes AMG George Harrison bought in 1984 sold for £43,200.
Mitchell photographed the band at their first ever US concert, at Washington Coliseum on 11 February 1964 – two days after their famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Mitchell was just 18 at the time and took the photos in natural light because he couldn’t afford a flash.
He was on hand again when they played Baltimore Civic Centre on 13 September 1964. He even got on stage to get a better vantage point.
![Photograph of George Harrison](https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/11B61/production/_100554527_display6.jpg)
![Photographs of The Beatles](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/7F21/production/_100554523_display2.jpg)
“I was very motivated to come up with stuff that was as unique as could possibly be,” he said.
“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.”
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said it was a “fantastic sale” which “shows that The Beatles market is still as strong as ever”.
The black Mercedes 500 SEL AMG was bought by Harrison in 1984 for £85,000 and he owned it for 16 years.
![Black Mercedes AMG owned by George Harrison](https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/8499/production/_100554933_5b05f8ef-72df-4e12-ad28-3fab867d784a.jpg)
It featured in the official video for the song ‘Real Love’.
Other items sold in Newton-le-Willows included a signed hotel register from a night at “The Bull” in Peterborough, which all four musicians signed along with manager Brian Epstein, which sold for £9,840.
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Source:BBC