LONDON.- The stunning dress that Marilyn Monroe wore at her historic appearance at the Madison Square Garden charity dinner, where she performed the song Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy who was turning 45, is now for sale with Juliens auction in the US on 17th-19th November.
Barnebys is the auction search engine which tracks the sale of some 500,000 items through 1,600 aucjtion houses. Pontus Silfverstolpe, one of the co-founders of the company says: The sale of this dress and the rest of the Monroe collection is likely to be one of the auction events of 2016 partly because it comes in the wake of the American Presidential election with the whole world watching the change of power taking place in the US.
The dress designed by Jean Louis is expected to sell for $2m to $3m, according Barnebys. This astronomical value is partly due to the fact that the performance of this song is now part of history two of the most famous people in the world publicly acknowledging what was a very private love affair, and finally because the dress is covered with 2,500 crystals, and because it was one of Marilyn Monroe's last public appearances, says Silfverstolpe.
Less than three months later, Marilyn Monroe was dead, and just a year later President Kennedy had been assasinated. "Marilyn Monroe's performance of 'Happy Birthday Mr. President 'is definitely the most famous spontaneous behavior in America's history, said Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions to Barnebys.
The dress will be part of Julien's three day auction of Marilyn Monroe-related pieces this month.