Breaking News: Kirchherr's Beatles images to head to auction

The Astrid Kirchherr Beatles Archive is slated to hit the auction block early this fall via a New York Auction house.

Guernsey's Auctioneers and Brokers announced the upcoming event via its Web site (www.guernseys.com). Beatles fans know Kirchherr, a world-class photographer, for her connection with and photography of the band back when it was still a fab five-piece consisting of Stuart Sutcliffe, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, paying their dues in the gritty Kaiserkeller nightclub in Hamburg, Germany, in 1960.

No auction date, estimated number of lots or other details were immediately available. The auction house is seeking both bidders and consignors for the event. Kirchherr

Kirchherr's iconic photos, many of which were highlighted in the recent Liverpool University Press book "Astrid Kirchherr: A Retrospective," gave a captivating glimpse of The Beatles well before they hit it big. After The Beatles' finished their German tour of artistic duty, Best was dropped from the group and replaced by drummer Ringo Starr. Sutcliffe chose to remain in Germany with Kirchherr; he died in April 1962.