Every professional photographer has experienced the thrill of getting paid. Some even remember the time they made their first sale. However, only a few photographers belong in an extraordinary league of their own: those who have taken iconic images that fetched an amount so unbelievable that they belong to the list of the 10 most expensive photographs ever sold.

You may want to double check the numbers you are seeing but trust us, this is the real deal. Photographers like Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky and Richard Prince are just a few of the photographers that sold their products for record seven digit amounts.

10 Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold

#10 – Billy the Kid (1880)

Photographer: Unknown



Price Tag: $2.3 million

Film goers may have forever attached the face of actor Emilio Estevez to the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, vis-à-vis the Young Guns films. However, the real Billy the Kid will forever be immortalized by this captivating portrait taken in 1880 by an anonymous photographer.

#9 – Untitled #153 (1985)

Price Tag: $2.7 million

A portrait so haunting that it could be mistaken for a Weegee crime scene image, Cindy Sherman’s masterpiece maintains a terrifying effect. But Cindy reassures that the female subject wasn’t a poor victim of a senseless crime: “it’s okay because they’re fakes. It’s all set up. It’s functioning like a fairytale.”

#8 – The Pond Moonlight (1904)

Price Tag: $2.9 million

An eerie depiction of a nighttime pond, this exemplified the pictorial style of the 1880s and captivated a rich photography aficionado to bid 2.9 million dollars for this antique image.