Dresses, lipsticks, and photos of Marilyn Monroe are up for auction. The items that belonged to the Hollywood star are part of a collection that spans her entire life and career and will be put up for sale from March 28 to 30 by Julien's in Los Angeles. The most expensive relic in the collection is a black evening dress worn during the filming of Billy Wilder's movie "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and is estimated at $200,000.
All items up for auction
The auction will also include items belonging to the founder of "Playboy" magazine, Hugh Hefner, who died in 2017 at the age of 91. One of Monroe's other dresses up for auction is a lavender satin bodysuit that she wore for a photo shoot in the December 1958 issue of "Life" magazine. The dress features a neckline adorned with bouquets of fabric flowers and draping pink, lavender and cream chiffon sashes and will be offered with an estimate of $40,000. The auction also includes the original program and the matrix of the ticket that Monroe received when she attended American President John F. Kennedy's birthday gala in 1962. That evening Marilyn Monroe sang a famous serenade to the president with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" while wearing a transparent and tight Jean Louis dress that had been sewn onto her shortly before the event. Other items include photos of Monroe kicking a football and on the set of the films "River of No Return" (1954) and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953) and a personalized shade of Elizabeth Arden lipstick, in a gold case.
The collections
Hugh Hefner's collection includes works of art such as Andy Warhol's original "Playboy Bunny" screenprint and an original oil on canvas by LeRoy Neiman from 1959, titled "Romanoffs", which could be sold for up to $80,000. Also, an original watercolor drawing by Alberto Vargas of a pin-up from the March 1967 issue of "Playboy" magazine is up for auction and is expected to be sold for a figure between $60,000 and $80,000. Alongside the pieces of art, there are also clothes worn by Hefner, a smoking jacket, a silk pajama set, slippers, and a tobacco pipe. Hefner and Monroe, both born in 1926, rest side by side in crypts inside the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park And Mortuary in Los Angeles, after Hefner purchased the tomb next to the actress's in 1992 for $75,000. Over 1,000 items from the Monroe and Hefner collections will be displayed in exhibitions in Hong Kong and Shanghai in February, before being sold at auction in Los Angeles at the end of March with the catalog title: "Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe".
This article is automatically translated