See the costliest Marilyn Monroe items ever sold!
As one of the 20th centuryâs most elusive characters, Marilyn Monroe continues to be the subject of fascination almost 50 years after her death. But before she was Marilyn, she was Norma Jeane Dougherty. A recovered collection of Joseph Jasgurâs photographs depicting a 19-year-old Dougherty at her first photo shoot in 1946 were auctioned off in Beverly Hills last December and fetched a total haul of $352,000. "These are probably the most significant images of Marilyn that are available because they're so early, from the first part of her career," said the chief of Julien's Auctions, which sold the trove. Collectors have been willing to shell out big bucks for a piece of Monroe. Hereâs a look at some of the most expensive Marilyn Monroe items ever sold.
Joseph Jasgur / AP Photos
There are few images more iconic than that of Marilyn Monroe standing over a New York City subway grate as a gust of wind blows up her dress in The Seven Year Itch. So itâs no surprise that auction attendees were willing to spend big bucks to get their hands on the legendary white pleated dress. Actress Debbie Reynolds sold Monroeâs costume for $5.6 million, just one piece of her personal Hollywood memorabilia collection, including the headdress Elizabeth Taylor wore as Cleopatra and ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland during a screen test for The Wizard of Oz. Reynolds auctioned off her prized goods after the extensive cost of maintaining them had driven her into debt.
George S. Zimbel / Getty Images
One of the most memorable Marilyn moments was when she sang âHappy Birthdayâ to President John F. Kennedy in Madison Square Garden in 1962 for his 45th birthday. For the now-ubiquitous serenade, Monroe wore a jewel-encrusted, nude dress that she was rumored to have been sewn into. In 1999, the widow of Monroeâs former acting coach, Lee Strasberg, put the dress up for auction. A Manhattan-based collectible company Gotta Have It! paid $1,267,500 for the one-of-a-kind gown. Gotta Have It! president Robert Schargen told reporters at the time that he would have paid twice that amount.
Getty Images (left); Bebeto Matthews / AP Photos
Two years after Monroe started dating famous Yankee Joe DiMaggio, the two married in San Francisco on January 14, 1954. After their wedding, he gave her a platinum eternity band with thirty-five baguette-cut diamonds, which sold at a Christieâs in 1999 for $772,500. Though their notoriously tumultuous marriage didnât last, the diamonds certainly are forever.
AP Photos
It took years of searching for Monroe to track down the white piano belonging to her mother, Gladys. After her mother, who was a paranoid schizophrenic, was institutionalized, most of the familyâs belongings were sold, including the sentimental piano. âMy happiest hours as a little girl were around that piano,â the actress once said, according to The New York Times. âEven when I didnât have enough money to eat, I borrowed money to keep that piano in storage.â In 1999, Mariah Carey purchased this piano from Christieâs for $662,500. âI had to fight for it,â Carey told Playboy of the piano in 2007. âI know it was expensive, but it was important to me. It's in my will that if anything should happen to me, the piano goes to a museum, which is where I think it should have gone in the first place.â Carey even recently named her baby Monroe after the late actress.
Rick Maiman, Sygma / Corbis; insets from left: Jemal Countess / Getty Images; AP Photos
The pink satin dress Monroe donned for her performance of âDiamonds Are a Girlâs Best Friendâ in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes didnât rake in quite as much dough as the âHappy Birthdayâ dress, but it did exceed its own expected price. At a Hollywood memorabilia sale in 2010, the gown sold for $319,000, which was $149,000 more than predicted.
Sunset Boulevard / Corbis
No one looks as good as Marilyn Monroe without the help of a little makeup. Monroeâs 5-drawer travel makeup case, filled with cosmeticsâsome of which were still in their original boxesâwas auctioned off at Christies in 1999 for $266,500. The case included lipsticks, eyeliner, nail polish, paper fans and a small collection of matchbooks from restaurants like long-running NYC theater district hotspot Sardiâs.
christies.com
Someone paid a whopping $145,000 in a 1999 Christieâs auction for a driverâs license, but avoided the DMV. The high bidder shelled out the impressive amount for a temporary driverâs license issue to Monroe in 1956 in California, just a few months before she wed playwright Arthur Miller.
Ernst Haas / Getty Images (inset): christies.com
In 1999, Monroeâs bathrobe sold for $6,000 at Christieâs in New York. But a decade later, it was auctioned off for $120,000 in Las Vegas in 2009. The short, white, terrycloth robe is believed to be the last thing the actress wore before she died in 1962.
liveauctioneers.com
A set of three chest x-rays under the name Marilyn Di Maggio sold for $45,000 at a Las Vegas auction in 2010. The x-rays were from a 1954 visit to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Florida when Monroe was in the midst of divorce proceedings from Joe DiMaggio. Monroe was rumored to have been pregnant at the time of the hospital visit and discovered that sheâd had a miscarriage.
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images (inset): juliensauctions.com
Monroe married Arthur Miller in June 1956, but that wasnât their only wedding. A few days later, she converted and they had a Jewish wedding. The actress even got a musical menorah that played HatikvahâIsraelâs national anthemâas a gift. In 1999, that melodious menorah fetched $19,540 at a Christieâs auction. Sadly, their marriage was less harmonious and the two divorced in 1961.
Bettmann / Corbis (left); christies.com
