Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but rhinestones can command top dollar at auction, especially when they were worn by the one of the world’s most iconic celebrities. A pair of shoulder-dusting rhinestone earrings worn by Marilyn Monroe garnered a whopping $185,000 at Julien’s “Hollywood Legends” auction on April 11 and 12 in Beverly Hills.
Monroe wore the earrings to the 1955 premiere of The Rose Tattoo and to an Actor’s Studio benefit dinner that she attended with Marlon Brando. According to Julien’s the clip-back earrings are composed of cascading baguette-cut rhinestones suspended from larger full-cut round rhinestones. The earrings were Monroe’s personal property and were originally auctioned at Christie’s in 1999.
Additional highlights from Julien’s auction include Marilyn Monroe’s Ceil Chapman cocktail dress, which sold for $37,500, and a 1952 Marilyn Monroe Photoplay Award that fetched $100,000. Julien’s two-day sale garnered over $2.5 million in celebrity memorabilia.
Lot 1079 • rhinestone earrings worn by Marilyn Monroe at the 1955 premiere of The Rose Tattoo • Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.