National Geographic to sell off archive in $3m auction

The National Geographic Society is selling parts of its massive archive of world exploration, offering 240 pieces spanning from the late 1800s to the present at an auction expected to bring in about $3m (£1.9m).

The society has chronicled scientific expeditions, explorations, archaeology, wildlife and world cultures for more than 100 years, amassing a collection of 11.5 million photos and original illustrations. Among the items to be sold at Christie's in New York on 6 December are some of its most indelible photographs, including that of an Afghan girl during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a portrait of Admiral Robert Peary at his 1908 expedition to the North Pole, a roaring lion in South Africa and the face of a Papua New Guinea aborigine.

Proceeds from the auction, weeks before the National Geographic Society's 125th anniversary, will go towards "the nurturing of young photographers, artists and explorers... who are the future of the organisation", Maura Mulvihill, senior vice-president of the society's image and video archives, said.