Newly discovered photos are immediately available for sale, and more photos will be released over the next two years.
After nearly fifty years untouched, a treasure trove of rare and intimate photographs of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones will be available for purchase only on eBay, beginning today. Taken by Bob Bonis, the U.S. tour manager for both bands from 1964-1966, these limited-edition photographs show the world a new, unguarded side of the rock legends during the British Invasion. These original images from the Bob Bonis Archive will be for sale exclusively on eBay, offering music enthusiasts and collectors the opportunity to browse and own a piece of rock history. New photographs from the 5,000 image archive – most never before seen – will be released on eBay over the next two years.
“eBay connects shoppers to the things they love, and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are unequivocally two of the most revered rock bands of all time,” said Gene Cook, General Manager of Emerging Verticals for eBay Marketplaces. “Bringing the Bob Bonis Archives to eBay makes this incredible inventory available to our global community of 155 million buyers. These images offer a remarkable backstage pass to truly amazing, very human moments."
As tour manager and friend, Bob Bonis had unprecedented – and to this day, unparalleled – access to life on the road with two of the world’s greatest bands. His contribution to rock history is a magnificent collection of more than 5,000 candid photographs of intimate and unguarded moments – from a never-before-seen Rolling Stones recording session at Chess Records Studio in Chicago to the only close up photographs of the Beatles 1965 stadium performance in Minnesota.
“We selected eBay as our partner for the launch of the Bob Bonis Archive because of their global reach and passionate community,” said Kurt Benjamin, CEO Ho’okipa Capital Partners Inc. and Managing Partner of Rare Rock Archives and the Bob Bonis Archive. “Through this union, we’re able to provide what we call ‘Art Accessibility’ – offering extremely limited edition fine art prints priced well below market value, so investing in a piece of rock history can now be a reality for much wider range of art collectors and music fans everywhere.”
Details on Prints
Prints will begin at $175 for an 11x14 photograph (edition of 250), $385 for a 16x20 (edition of 75), and $625 for a 20x24 photograph (edition of 50). Each photograph is estate embossed, hand-numbered and printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archival paper. All photographs are accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from The GRAMMY Museum® as well as an Archive prepared package that includes a curated description of each specific photograph. Once the edition sells out, it will never be reprinted. Prints will ship worldwide and are available either framed or unframed.
Over the next two years, the Bob Bonis Archive will regularly release new, never before seen images for sale exclusively on eBay during monthly and quarterly events. A portion of all proceeds from the first sales event will be donated to the GRAMMY Museum® and the GRAMMY Foundation® through Giving Works, the charitable arm of eBay that allows buyers and sellers to support the causes that matter most to them. Additional non-profits will also benefit from future sales events.
“The GRAMMY Foundation is honored to be working with the Bob Bonis Archive on this offering of such exceptional photographs,” said Kristen Madsen, Sr. Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation. “Our mission is to cultivate understanding and appreciation of recorded music, and these images reveal a new side of two bands who forever changed the face of music history.”
For additional information and to see the whole collection, visit ebay.com/BOBBONIS. Also check out this gallery.
Source: eBay
Images: Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones © The Bob Bonis Archive