Marilyn Monroe died 53 years ago this August, but her allure endures.
The latest proof: The original marker for her grave just sold for an astronomical price. Julien's Auctions of Beverly Hills, California, expected the marker to sell for between $2,000 and $4,000. Instead, it sold this weekend for $212,500. (Tweet This)
This is not the marker that's now on Monroe's crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. The current marker has been there for decades, replacing the older one that just sold. Julien's says the seller "was an employee of the morgue who obtained it when Marilyn's was replaced with a different one in the 1970s." The buyer? "An overseas bidder." That's all we know about him. Or her.
We visited Monroe's grave last year when a man who owns a burial plot nearby was hoping to flip it at a profit. Monroe is the main draw at the small, out-of-the-way, star-studded cemetery. The front of her crypt is covered in kisses and has been yellowed by the oil from thousands of hands touching it.
Other Monroe memorabilia that Julien's sold over the weekend includes:
- A dress Monroe wore in "Something's Gotta Give" went for $348,000
- A first issue of Playboy Magazine, with Monroe on the cover and autographed by Hugh Hefner, sold for $87,500
- A drawing of a nude woman signed by Monroe, expected to sell for between $8,000 and $10,000 ... sold for $75,000
The sale prices, while impressive, pale in comparison to the most expensive piece of Monroe memorabilia ever sold. That would be the white dress she wore over the subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch." It sold four years ago for $5.6 million.
Want it? Better learn "How to Marry a Millionaire."