Hugh Hefner-owned Marily Monroe miscellany, among other artworks in an expansive collection, fetched over $4 million at a multi-day sale facilitated by Julien's Auctions last March 28 to 30 at the NYA Studios East in Hollywood, California, as per a press release by the house.
The top-selling lot is for a pink Pucci dress previously and famously worn by Monroe, which sold for $325,000, outselling the estimate several times over and marking a new record for the Florence-based label.
Of this momentous sale, Julien's Auctions CEO David Goodman said: "Throughout our twenty years in the business, Julien's has proudly represented the legacies of Hollywood's biggest stars yet there is no one bigger and more enduring than Marilyn Monroe."
"Her most glamorous and incandescent items were the top sellers at our three-day auction that sold a stunning and fascinating collection of artifacts from three American icons of the 20th century, Hugh Hefner, Marilyn Monroe, and Playboy," he continued.
Other Notable Lots at Julien's 'Icons' Sale
Dubbed the "Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner, and Marilyn Monroe" sale, the event delivered the promise made by its name and offered a plethora of monumental pop-culture memorabilia in over 600 lots.
That said, there were a couple of high-profile fine art that slipped past through Hefner's Playboy-dominated collection, one of which is a sculpture by celebrated American sculptor Richard Hunt.
The 1962 bronze-made piece was entitled "Stalk," whose key characteristic is a pointy three-pronged end depicted in a "violent" manner. As per the auction house, it stood in the lobby of Hefner's Playboy Enterprises in Beverly Hills.
At the auction, this particular sculpture sold for $127,000 alongside another Hunt piece, dubbed "Bird," which fetched four times its high estimate and totaled out to $63,500.
Another work, this time by abstract expressionist Milton Resnick, also outsold its estimate several times over. It was the 1956 piece entitled "Crater," which saw the hammer fall at the $76,200 mark. Hefner purportedly hung this piece in his Playboy Mansion West.
Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe's Connection
As for Hefner's connection with Monroe, as facilitated through his collection of the actress' memorabilia, it all started when he first bought nude photos of the pop icon in 1953, which he used to launch the first issue of Playboy.
Afterward, this instance sparked a lifelong obsession for the Playboy founder, which not only led him to build an expansive collection after Monroe but also placed his final resting place beside the crypt that housed the legendary actress.
Consequently, both of these monumental objects were also sold in the auction, with the first issue of Playboy fetching $6,500, while a space near Hefner and Monroe's in the same LA mausoleum crypt sold for $195,000. In contrast, Hefner bought him for $75,000.
The reception for many of Hefner's collection of Monroe-related trinkets and property only cements the lasting impact that the late, original "blonde bombshell" has made on popular culture.
