A RARE negative from Marilyn Monroe’s first professional photo shoot has gone under the hammer in Wiltshire.

The photograph was taken when the unknown Norma Jeane Baker was a 20 year-old factory girl, with aspirations of becoming a model.

The picture, which was taken at Zuma Beach in Malibu, along with the negative and copyright, was expected to fetch up to £8,000, but was sold for £4,250.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge from Henry Aldridge and Sons in Devizes said: “It was an exceptionally unusual item and to be able to include the copyright added another dimension as we only usually sell the physical item.”

In 1946, Norma Jeane Baker was working at a munitions factory when a passing military government photographer told her she could be a model.

She approached a Hollywood modelling agency and photographer Joseph Jasgur was assigned to put her first portfolio together.

The pictures made Jasgur famous and helped create the star who would go on to become Marilyn Monroe.