Poland plans to auction Marilyn Monroe photos

Poland plans to auction part of a photographic collection that includes hundreds of photographs of Marilyn Monroe.

The collection includes about 4,000 photographs taken by the late celebrity photographer Milton H. Greene. Some are well known images, but the Polish authorities say they believe that the collection may contain some unpublished works.

The photos ended up in possession of Poland as the result of a complex embezzlement scandal that rocked the country in early 1990. A Chicago businessman accused of bilking from Poland million gave the collection to Poland in partial payment for the loss of government.

They have been stored in a warehouse in New York for many years and only recently arrived in Warsaw. The Polish official in charge of cleaning up the mess persistent corruption scandal, Marta Maciazek said the photographic collection is valued at $ 680,000. She said some of the photos will go on exhibition soon and then will go on sale.

The collection includes some famous images of Monroe, including one wrapped in a white fur coat on a white background. Several of them are numbered in a series of 55 copies, which means they are not unique, but may still have some value for collectors.

The photos arrived in two large wooden boxes of New York recently and are being held in a dark room of the gallery where the public will be presented next month. They are divided into squares, many of them labeled "MM" for Marilyn Monroe and other brief descriptions, like "pulling media" and "legs -. Hat in her lap"

One of the curators of the exhibition, Anna Wolska, showed reporters photos of Associated Press on Friday while preparing the show, which is to open Aug. 6 - the day after the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death - and runs through Sept. 7.

The collection also includes photos of Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minnelli, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando Alfred Hitchcock. -Agencies