Sotheby's will sell a collection of Polaroid art images which could fetch as much as $11m, next spring.

Around 1,260 pieces from the Polaroid art collection will be sold-off as part of a 16,000-piece collection covering the 60 year history of Polaroid instant film.

"It's really great stuff," said Stephen Perloff, editor of The Photograph Collector.

The sale may also be a chance for collectors to find bargain investments by underappreciated artists, according to Perloff.

"Works by Ansel Adams and some of the best-known photographers would be sought after."

"Probably the vast majority would be known in their community but not nationally, and generally they would be hard to sell," he said.

About_400_of the works were highlighted in The Polaroid Book, published in 2005. Other pieces have been loaned to museums and galleries over the years.

Highlights include 443 pictures by Adams, the photograph known for his black and whites of the American West.  Sotheby's has valued these at $7-11m.

Adams worked with Polaroid founder Edwin Land in the company's early days and helped to establish the collection.

Also featured is Depression-era photojournalism by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, David Levinthal's photos of toy figurines, and 72 Polaroids shot by Holyoke native William Wegman.

Archived Andy Warhol images include the legendary pop artist's works featuring Truman Capote, Farah Fawcett, Ted Kennedy and Sylvester Stallone.

"If it's rare, people may bid it up. Because it's Polaroid and because each picture is unique, this is a chance, this is it," Perloff told the Boston Herald.