A Pretty Price: Pictures of Marilyn Bring $53,995

For more than 20 years, pictures of a 19-year-old model who later would be known as Marilyn Monroe sat, forgotten, in photographer Bill Carroll’s closet.

On Tuesday, Carroll’s unpublished collection of Norma Jean Dougherty photographs fetched $53,995 in bidding at Christie’s East auction house in New York City.

The collection of 96 color slides and six black-and-white prints was sold to three or possibly five bidders, all of whom asked for anonymity and declined to discuss their plans for the pictures, said Christie’s spokeswoman Lee Anne Fahey.

The pictures of Norma Jean are believed to represent only her third professional modeling assignment. They were taken on the Malibu beach in August, 1945, long before she was packaged as Hollywood sex goddess Marilyn Monroe.

Paid $25 for Daylong Session

Carroll, now semi-retired and living in San Marcos, paid her $25 for the all-day assignment, which featured Norma Jean in sports wear and beach attire. At the time, Carroll owned a photo-processing laboratory in Los Angeles and needed an attractive model to pose for a countertop display card.

Carroll’s photographs were broken down into several lots that were purchased by different buyers, Fahey said.

Carroll said he didn’t realize until 1968 that the teen-ager he photographed that day had become known as Marilyn Monroe, whose film career he did not follow.

Even after he realized the subject of his photo shoot, Carroll said, he wasn’t convinced they were of any value until another collection of 25 Norma Jean Dougherty photographs was sold by Christie’s in London last year for $25,000.

That batch of pictures was believed to represent her first professional modeling job, just two weeks before Carroll hired her.