Photos from Marilyn Monroe's last sitting for sale

A rare portfolio of photographs from Marilyn Monroe's last sitting is up for sale to the highest bidder in Philadelphia next month.

Freeman's auction house estimates that the limited-edition portfolio of 10 photos, made from fashion photographer Bert Stern's original negatives from his June 1962 Vogue assignment could fetch $10,000 to $15,000 when it goes on the block Sept. 10.

The photos will be on public view starting Sept. 6, said Aimee Pflieger, head of the house's photography division.

Stern, who died in June at age 83, took more than 2,500 photos of Monroe over three days at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. The 20-by-20-inch portfolio photos are from the first day, when the two were alone before the arrival of a cadre of Vogue staffers, and project a feeling of spontaneity and playfulness that stands out from the others.

"He brought a turntable and speakers and three cases of Champagne," Pflieger said. "The feeling you get from the photos is they're having a great time."

On Aug. 5, six weeks after that session, the 36-year-old Monroe was found dead in her home of an apparent drug overdose. A half-century later, she remains one of the 20th-century's most enduring sex symbols.

Stern's photos were a sensation, partly because they were taken just before her death and partly because they included the first nude photos of Monroe since 1949. Many of the nudes show the star posing with diaphanous scarves, paper flowers, and pearls in bright but diffuse natural light that creates a dreamlike quality.

"She was beautiful and untouched," Stern said. "It was as though she were just beginning."

Monroe is often described in the photos as projecting an aura of damage and desperation, but Pflieger disagrees.

"We project our own thoughts onto them when we look at them," she said. "To me, they're soft, beautiful, clutter-free images just filled with light . . . they give you a real sense of her personality and playfulness."

Other Monroe photos are being auctioned the same day, including more from the personal collection of the portfolio owner, who the auction house says wishes to remain anonymous.

Also going on the auction block are nearly 100 photographs from the corporate collection of cosmetics giant Avon's headquarters in New York City. The photographs are all by female artists from the 1910s to the 1990s - from the little known to the prominent Cindy Sherman and Louise Dahl-Wolfe - and focus on themes of beauty through women's eyes.

Part of the proceeds will benefit the Avon Foundation, which advances efforts related to breast cancer research and combating domestic violence.