A rare photograph of legendary actress Marilyn Monroe, taken before she shot to stardom, was sold at an auction here for 4,250 pounds.

The black and white image, taken by agency photographer Joseph Jasgur in 1946, is believed to have been shot during her first ever modelling gig at Zuma Beach in California, reports contactmusic.com.

However, the negative and copyright of the image were expected to fetch between 5,000-8,000 pounds when it went up for sale in Wiltshire, England, Sep 20.

Despite the lower figure, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said he was "quite happy" with the result.