A collection of rare photographs taken during the photoshoot for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover have sold for £180,000 at auction.
The images were put up for sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in London. The set of six snaps include the pictures used on the front and back cover, along with four rare outtakes and were taken by Iain Macmillan, a friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, on August 8 1969.
Lennon selected image number five for the Abbey Road album sleeve.
They were originally expected to fetch between £50,000 and £70,000. An overseas buyer made the winning bid over the phone.
Sarah Wheeler of Bloomsbury Auctions says: “This set of photographs has triggered a brilliant reaction from the market. It has been a pleasure to share them with the public at our sale rooms, even for a short time, and a delight to see them attain such a worthy price today.”
Earlier this year it was revealed that Westminster City Council was considering assigning security staff to Abbey Road due to the volume of tourist visits. The crossing became a Grade II listed building in 2010.
