Mick Jagger had a secret love affair with American-born singer Marsha Hunt in 1969, which was the root of a set of 10 love-letters, and now these letters have sold for £187,250 at auction, The Guardian reports. 

In a fascinating collection for any collector, the letters portray Jagger - then filming in Australia for Ned Kelly - as "poetic and self-aware" 25-year-old. After the sale, Marsha Hunt said: "The passage of time has given these letters a place in our cultural history. 1969 saw the ebbing of a crucial, revolutionary era, highly influenced by such artists as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and Bob Dylan. Their inner thoughts should not be the property of only their families, but the public at large, to reveal who these influential artists were - not as commercial images, but their private selves."

The price was more than double the pre-sale estimate of £70,000 to £100,000. They were purchased by a private collector, bidding over the telephone. Dr Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's books specialist said: "We are delighted with the result of today's sale which reflects the great significance of these letters, written at such a vivid moment in social and musical history. There has been enormous international interest in the letters, which depict Mick Jagger, not as the global superstar he is today, but reveal him as a poetic and self-aware 25-year-old with wide-ranging intellectual and artistic interests."