The Wikicollecting Top 10 Most Expensive Marilyn Monroe Memorabilia Discover the most valuable items of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia ever sold at auction with this top 10 guide from Wikicollecting.
in 1999 for a price of $772,500.
The ring is set to appear at auction once again in a Profiles in History sale in December 2011.
3) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes dress
The third item sold during the Debbie Reynolds auction in June 2011 is the floor-length red dress worn by Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The Travilla creation was worn during the film’s musical number ‘Two Little Girls from Little Rock’, which Monroe sings alongside her co-star Jane Russell, and features thousands of hand-sewn sequins.
As with the other dresses, it smashed its pre-sale estimate of $200,000 - $300,000 to sell for $1.2 million.
2) ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress
In one of the most iconic moments of her life, Monroe sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to U.S president John F. Kennedy at his birthday party in May 1962. Rumours have persisted ever since that the two had been engaged in affair, and the mystery behind their relationship has fuelled the market for memorabilia relating to the pair of them.
This dress was no exception, and it broke records in 1999 when it sold at a Christie’s auction in New York for a price of $1,267,500.
1) ‘Seven Year Itch’ White Subway dress
Probably the most famous dress in Hollywood history, Marilyn’s white subway dress was always going to be a record-breaker at auction. But even experts were surprised when it sold during the Debbie Reynolds memorabilia auction in Beverly Hills in June 2011.
Originally valued at $1 - $2 million, even these large sums proved conservative as it sold for a World record price of $5,658,000, making it the most expensive movie costume of all time.
Wikicollecting.org is an online, open-source encyclopaedia written by collectors, for collectors.
Anyone can create a page, and it’s completely free to use.
For moreinformation on how you can get involved with the Wikicollecting project, visit http://en.wikicollecting.org/ or contact us at info@wikicollecting.org.
