The first 100 lots in the Polaroid Collection sale went on the block at noon yesterday, with only four items not sold. Any worries that so many photographs by Ansel Adams being offered together could have a negative effect on value have, so far, been eased. A mural-sized print of Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park (below, center) went for $722,000, estimated at $300-500,000 before bidding started.

A remarkable mural-size print of one of Adams's most popular photographs, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, which has a completely different feel as a photograph when printed at this scale, brought $518,500 (est. $350-550,000). The previous auction record for Adams is $609,600, for a print of Moonrise, sold in 2006 at Sotheby's.

Left to right: Chuck Close, 9-Part Self-Portrait. Ansel Adams, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park. Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait (Eyes Closed). Courtesy Sotheby's New York, Photographs from The Polaroid Collection, June 21-22, 2010.

One of the nicest surprises was the large price brought by a small print of Barns (Two Barns, Danville, NY) by Minor White, who is well represented in the collection, with prints very conservatively priced. The image mentioned went for $53,125 (est. $10-15,000). White and Adams were two of the founders of Aperture magazine, which was started 1n 1952.

A 1979 self-portrait by Andy Warhol (above right) done with the Polaroid 20x25 camera, Self-Portrait (Eyes Closed) brought $254,500 (est. $10-15,000). The 9-Part Self-Portrait by Chuck Close (above, left) also made a mark; estimated at $50-70,000, it fetched a whopping $290,000.

The first 100 photographs auctioned yesterday at Sotheby's sold for $7,197,436 (the entire collection of over 1,000 images is est. $7.2-11.1 million). 1334 York Avenue, New York, NY. The sale continues today, June 22nd. 212.606.7000