Top 10 Most Expensive Photographs

 Number 10 – $2.3 million – Billy the Kid – Unknown (1880) 
 Sold at Brian Lebel's Old West Show and Auction, Denver, CO – June 2011.
 This is the only authenticated photograph of Wild West gunslinger Billy the Kid.

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Number 9 – $2.7 million  – Untitled #153 – Cindy Sherman (1985)
Sold by Phillips de Pury & Co., New York – November 2010 – 67 x 50 inches
Cindy Sherman was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship

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Number 8 – $2.9 million – The Pond/Moonlight – Edward Steichen (1904) 
Sold by Sotheby's New York Auction – February 2006
This early color photograph was made with manually applied light-sensitive gums. One of three prints still in existence, each is unique because of the hand-layering of the gums.

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Number 7 – $2.9 million – Los Angeles – Andreas Gursky (1998)  
Sold by Sotheby's London Auction – February 2008 – 62 x 125 inches
Cibachrome print, numbered 3/6 on the reverse

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Number 6 – $3.3 million – 99 Cent II, Diptychon – Andreas Gursky (2001)  
Sold by Sotheby's London Auction – February 2007 – 82 x 133 inches
Cibachrome print mounted on acrylic

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Number 5 – $3.4 million – Untitled (Cowboy) - Richard Prince (2001-02)  
Sold by Sotheby's New York Auction – November 2007 – 50 x 70 inches
This is a "re-photograph" of a Marlboro cigarette magazine advertisement

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Number 4 – $3.7 million – Dead Troops Talk – Jeff Wall (1992)  
Sold by Christie's New York – May 2012 – 90 x 164 inches
Cibachrome transparency in aluminum light box,
This digital montage was staged and shot in studio

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Number 3 – $3.7 million – For Her Majesty - Gilbert & George (1973)  
Sold by Christie's London – June 2008 — 57 x 138 inches
Gelatin silver print, in thirty-seven parts

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Number 2 – $3.9 million – Untitled #96 – Cindy Sherman (1981)
Sold by Christie's New York – May 2011 – 24 x 48 inches.
This photo is from a signed and numbered edition of 10.

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Number 1 – $4.3 million – Rhein II – Andreas Gursky (1999) 
Sold by Christie's New York – November 2011 – 81 x 140 inches.
Digitally manipulated, cibachrome print mounted on acrylic.

Here's the bullet list. 

• 10 photographs
• 7 photographers
• $33.1 million
• $10.5 million for one photographer's work
• 2 historic techniques
• 5 images processed digitally
• 1 photograph of a photograph