While Geneva auction houses continue to showcase extraordinary natural diamonds, Kashmir sapphires, Burmese rubies, and important signed high jewelry, another upcoming auction reminds us that provenance itself can become the luxury commodity.
Julien’s Auctions will hold its “100 Years of Marilyn” sale on June 4th, celebrating what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s centennial birthday.
The auction house describes Monroe as “arguably one of the world’s most recognizable figures,” noting that her “popularity and legacy expands into the 21st century.”
The sale includes personal effects, handwritten material, cosmetics, clothing, photographs, and jewelry-related accessories connected directly to the Hollywood icon.
And some of the strongest examples of provenance-over-material-value come from Monroe auctions themselves.
Back in 2005, a broken strand of faux pearls — complete with a “rhinestone and sapphire clasp” — sold at Julien’s for $13,125 against a pre-sale estimate of just $600 to $800.
The necklace had originally appeared in Christie’s landmark 1999 “The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe” auction, where it realized $40,250.
Gemologically speaking, the strand itself has little intrinsic material value.
But collectors were not buying pearls. They were buying Marilyn.
Now another highly personal Monroe accessory is returning to the auction block: a small 1950s gold-tone minaudière evening purse by Wadsworth, estimated at $100,000 to $200,000.
The compact-style purse still contains traces of Monroe’s everyday life:
a lipstick tube in the shade “Jewel of India,” a powder puff, cigarettes, and even two Mercury dimes dated 1940 and 1943.
The piece previously sold during Julien’s 2016 auction of property from the estate of Lee Strasberg, where fashion designers Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Hilfiger acquired it.
In Geneva, rarity, untreated status, origin reports, and maker signatures continue to drive the high-end jewelry market.
But the Marilyn Monroe market serves as another reminder that in luxury collecting, provenance can sometimes rival — or even surpass — intrinsic value itself.
In a Julien’s Auctions of personal property of Marilyn Monroe back in 2005, this strand of faux pearls sold for 20 times more than the auction house estimate.
AUCTION
June 4-5, 2005
Beverly Hills
A faux pearl necklace (now incomplete and broken) with a “faux rhinestone and sapphire clasp.” Included are reprinted images of MM wearing this or a similar necklace.
PROVENANCE: This piece is one of four that originally sold in the October 27-28, 1999 Christie’s New York auction titled “The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe”
Sale 9216, Lot 252, Page 176 of that catalogue; final price realized was $40,250; original ‘Marilyn’ lot tag is still attached.
Estimate: $600 – $800
Sold Price: $13,125
Today, we examine a purse, the personal property of Marilyn Monroe, that is up for auction, with an estimated sale value ranging from $100,000 to $200,000.
Marilyn Monroe
1950s Minaudiere Evening Purse
Estimate: $100,000 – $200,000 USD
A small cylindrical-shaped piece made of gold-tone metal, with either end adorned with an elaborate “citrine floret,” [resin or plastic simulating citrine].
The purse opens to reveal three compartments: the first holds a tiny hair comb and a tube of lipstick [by Dorothy Gray, shade is called “Jewel of India”]; the second holds a compact [some powder still intact], a powder puff, and an affixed mirror; the third is concave to hold other items – in Marilyn’s case eight Philip Morris cigarettes and two Mercury dimes dated 1940 and 1943; piece is marked on the compact’s lid “Wadsworth / Made in U.S.A.”; together with its original black velvet cover and its box reading “Pandora by Wadsworth.”
In 2016, world-renowned designers Tommy and Dee Hilfiger won this purse at the Julien’s Auctions sale of Lee Strasberg’s personal property; Sold Price: $187,500.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this item will benefit NEXT for AUTISM.
Provenance: Ex lot 452; Julien’s Auctions, Los Angeles, Property from the Estate of Lee Strasberg, Sale #160, November 17, 2016; original Julien’s Auctions lot tag included.
2016 – Property from the estate of Lee Strasberg
MARILYN MONROE MINAUDIERE
1950s Minaudiere Evening Purse
Estimate: $20,000 – $30,000
Sold Price: $187,500
Tap here to review the full Auction Catalogue for 100 Years of Marilyn
