LOS ANGELES – Julien’s Auctions held its blockbuster Hollywood auction event of the season, Icons & Idols: Hollywood Nov. 16-17 in front of a excited crowd of collectors and fans bidding live on the floor, online and on the phone across the globe. One of Hollywood’s greatest screen goddesses of all time, Marilyn Monro, dazzled once again with a selection of her never-before-seen, personal property hitting the auction block. Monroe’s 1956 Raven Black Ford Thunderbird convertible cruised to the auction block for the first time and sold for $490,000. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
Soon after buying the Thunderbird, Monroe married the celebrated playwright Arthur Miller. A published report at the time suggests that Monroe and Miller drove this vehicle (above) to their civil wedding ceremony on June 28, 1956, and likely their private wedding on June 30, 1956.
The Marilyn Monroe Thunderbird was purchased on December 20, 1955, from Westport Motors, Westport, Connecticut, in the name of her corporation, Marilyn Monroe Productions. Most accounts suggest it was a Christmas gift from her business partner and photographer, Milton Greene.
Amy Greene, Milton Greene’s wife, speaking about this car, said: “Marilyn liked to drive. We’d take the convertible and with the top down, we’d go sailing along the highway. We both liked to feel the wind in our faces and the warmth of the heater on our legs.”
It was a powerful car for its time with a 225 horsepower V-8 engine and a top speed of 113 MPH. This car features its complete dual, through the bumper exhaust system and gives a deep throaty roar at speed.
Monroe’s Golden Globe award for World Film Favorite Female 1961 from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sold for an astounding $250,000, making it the top-selling Golden Globe award sold at auction.
A few minutes after, another unprecedented sale took place with Other iconic items connected to Monroe’s mystique that went under the hammer this weekend included the black satin blouse with matching necktie Monroe wore to a press conference at Los Angeles Airport on Feb. 26, 1956 that sold for an $43,750, over four times its original estimate of $10,000; her copy of Playboy’s first issue with Monroe on the cover signed by publisher Hugh Hefner that sold for $32,000; and Monroe’s iconic black and white checkered pants that sold for $31,250, more than three times its original estimate of $10,000.
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