Happy Birthday, Marilyn Monroe.
On Wednesday, which would have been the actress’s 90th birthday, a worldwide tour started of hitherto-unrevealed items once coveted by the blonde bombshell, the highest-valued item of which is a Blancpain cocktail watch expected to fetch from $80,000 to $120,000.
The vintage timepiece and its bracelet feature 71 round diamonds and two marquise diamonds. It comes from the estate of Lee Strasberg, the famous acting coach who was Monroe’s mentor; he and his wife, Paula, were close with the actress and received the watch, among a trove of collectibles, in her will. Strasberg died in 1982.
According to Julien’s Auctions, the timepiece has never been on the auction block. Many of the items on offer, in fact, are preserved exactly as they were when Monroe died of a drug overdose in 1962 at age 36.
“The amazing thing about these items is they’ve never been seen before in public since Marilyn passed in 1962,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, which is overseeing the auction, scheduled for Nov. 19-20 in Hollywood.