Collectibles

Marilyn Monroe-signed Photo, ca. 1953

Appraisal: Marilyn Monroe-signed Photo, ca. 1953

Transcript

GUEST: I inherited this through my family. I had an uncle, Jack Petrie, who was a gifted musician, and he played for Fred Karger off and on, who was in charge of the music for Columbia Studios. Fred Karger was her vocal coach. And somewhere in there, Jack met Marilyn. He accompanied her on the piano a few times. He met my Aunt Paula, who was a housemate of Marilyn's. And Fred Karger's mother had a house that she allowed young starlets to live in. And I don't know if it was the house she lived in or if she had a house that she rented out. Musicians play anywhere they can make a little money. And so Jack played for Ronald Reagan's first wedding. And he was up in the choir loft. And Marilyn had a crush on Ronald Reagan, so she was up there with him. They were crawling around on the floor looking for a plug to plug the organ in. (laughing): Or something like that. That's really the main story I remember him telling about being with Marilyn.

APPRAISER: Crawling around in the rafters looking for a plug.

GUEST (laughing): Crawling around in the rafters looking for a plug.

APPRAISER: How did this picture come about?

GUEST: He had to go pick her up at the airport in Los Angeles, and my grandparents were there on vacation, and that's why it says "To Mom and Pop Pete." But I'm in doubt about the signature. I don't know whether the signature was Marilyn's or if it was a secretary that mailed it to them. They didn't get it that day, they, they got it later.

APPRAISER: Did they have any impressions of her?

GUEST: They just, they just said they met her, and I'm not sure what, what they knew to say to Marilyn in the car. (laughing)

APPRAISER: They must have left an impression, 'cause she made sure that they got a photograph.

GUEST: It was very sweet of her to make sure they got the photograph, yes.

APPRAISER: So the first thing that we do, obviously, when we look at photographs is, the most important thing is whether this was signed by Marilyn or by one of her secretaries.

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: Because they obviously had a lot of pictures that were sent out signed by other people.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: There've been some things put out there that, there's a distinction in whether it's secretarial or not based on ink color.

GUEST: Ah.

APPRAISER: That red ink meant it was signed by Marilyn.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And, or green ink. And if it was not, then it was a secretarial. And it's actually the exact opposite. This is 100% Marilyn's signature.

GUEST (laughing): I'm floored. I'm really floored at that. But that's fantastic.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: I love it, I've always loved it.

APPRAISER: But she has a very distinct handwriting.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And more often than not, the pictures that are really signed by her are actually just in ballpoint pen.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: And if ever she actually does veer towards a color, it's usually green ink. And so most of the red ones out there are actually secretarial.

GUEST: I've watched other programs, and, and I've heard that she signed 'em in red ink, so that was, that was where the doubt came from, so...

APPRAISER: I'm glad we're clearing this up today.

GUEST: (laughs)

APPRAISER: This was taken by a man named Frank Powolny.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Who was the lead photographer for 20th Century Fox for about 40 years. Most famously, he shot the picture of Marilyn from Niagara that was used by Andy Warhol to make the famous print of her face. That was one of his famous shots of her.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: But he shot her for a lot of films. This was shot for publicity for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. And Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was filmed late 1952 into early 1953. So this would have been printed most likely in 1953, which is probably when it would have been sent, circa that time. By '55, she kind of was spending a lot more time on the East Coast.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And so I, I think that's probably when this would have happened.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: On top of it, it's a fantastic photo.

GUEST: (laughs)

APPRAISER: And so when we look at value, I like to always go down these checklists of, like...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...what do you want to see when you have a good photo?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: You want a glamorous shot. And it couldn't be more glamorous than this.

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: You want a good size, which we have.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: This isn't an eight-by-ten, this is 11 by 14, which is fantastic. And the other thing that is really important, apart from the fact that we know it's authentic, we also know the story of who this is to now, because a lot of the photos that get out there, they're signed to someone, and we have no idea who they were or what connection they had to Marilyn.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: But you've provided that for us today. But the last thing that's really important that I, I think people instinctively know, but don't often state openly, is, how visible is the signature? Because she signed this across her hair, it's a huge plus for value. I think conservative, you would expect to get anywhere between $20,000 to $30,000 at auction.

GUEST: I'm floored. (laughs) I lived with this photo from the time I was a child, had no idea, and it's just been hanging around. (laughing) So that's amazing, that's amazing.

APPRAISER: In the past two years, a few have sold for as much as $50,000 and $63,000 that were, I would say, comparable in quality to yours. So if it did do well in excess of that estimate, I, I wouldn't be surprised, because there are only so many of these out there that are authentic, and...

GUEST: My goodness.

APPRAISER: Again, having your story is pretty fantastic.

GUEST (laughing): My goodness, yes.

APPRAISER: If I were to insure it, I would probably put no less than $50,000 on it.

GUEST: That's great, we'll do it.