Nude photos of Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss go under the hammer

Among the images on offer are portraits of 60s icon Brigitte Bardot and a reclining nude of American actress Lauren Hutton and a set of four psychedelic Beatles portraits all by celebrated fashion photographer Richard Avedon.

Elfering, 49, one of the world's foremost collectors of 20th-century photography, owns iconic prints by such greats as Helmut Newton, Avedon, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Guy Bourdin, Cindy Sherman, Diane Arbus and legendary photographer Horst P. Horst.

He first encountered the work of Horst in the early Eighties when the then 25-year-old German walked into Hamilton's Gallery while vacationing in London.

 French icon Brigitte Bardot pictured by Richard Avedon

Elfering recalled he was instantly taken with the dramatic portraits but was unable to afford even a single print.

Instead, he left with a book and a poster. In 1998 he acquired the complete Horst archive.

"It just shows," says Elfering, "how times can change."

"I started with a book and a poster, then moved on to smaller prints, then more expensive ones, and finally the estate," says Elfering.

And now he's letting most of it go - 135 lots - in a sale in New York on April 10, 2008.

But not before giving the public a chance to see them one more time.