1954 Marilyn Monroe Tissue with Soldier's Letter
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GUEST:
This is a letter that was sent to my paternal grandmother from her brother during the Korean War. Uh, he was stationed there in 1954. And, as the letter goes into, he was... Made into the dressing room and made off with this Kleenex that Marilyn Monroe wiped on her lips.
APPRAISER:
Very cool.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
(laughs): So, you... You have the letter, you have the original envelope...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...that the letter was sent, and you have the tissue with lipstick on it of Marilyn's. That's-- we can't bury the lede here, it's Marilyn Monroe's lipstick...
GUEST:
That it is.
APPRAISER:
...that we're looking at. We have this letter here that's from your relative. It says, "Here's a real treat for youse, "some pure Marilyn Monroe! She put on a show this afternoon at our Div." Division.
GUEST:
Division.
APPRAISER:
(murmurs) Yes, "And, man, I had a ringside seat. "Was with the P.A. system crew, "got some good movies of her. "Then we were the first in her dressing room, "and I got off with my prize, "Kleenex she used on her lipstick. What a prize! (Guess I'm really cracking up, huh?)" This letter is everything. So what's interesting is, this is on his official stationery, and we have all of the signifiers that make sense for 1st Marines Division, which is what he was in.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And when I first saw Marilyn Monroe's lipstick on tissue paper, I said, "Yeah, right-- no way."
GUEST:
Really? Okay.
APPRAISER:
Like, "I don't believe it for a sec... "There's no way you can prove that. What, do we have DNA in here?" And then I saw the letters. (laughs): And I went, "Holy cow, we can prove it," because he wrote it the day that she arrived...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...for the very first show. So, we know that, and we know that it was actually postmarked the day after, so he mailed it. He, he put it in the envelope, he immediately mailed it home. And everything checks out with this story.
GUEST:
Oh, wow-- yeah.
APPRAISER:
So, I believe it. And I also did some digging and looked to make sure.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Marilyn arrived on February 16, 1954. Yeah. She did four days of shows, ten shows, sometimes multiple shows on the same base. She would, was flown around Korea on helicopters. They had a team of ten helicopters that were flying the whole setup around.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And she entertained over 100,000 troops in four days. In July of 1953, the armistice had already been signed, but we still had over 225,000 soldiers stationed in Korea as an occupying peace force. So when Marilyn was on her honeymoon with Joe in Japan...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...and she was asked if she'd come and entertain some troops, they kind of worked her into the show. And she sung "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," "Somebody Loves Me," and "Bye-Bye, Baby." So her part was only 15 minutes of an hourlong show.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But it left an impression on these soldiers that I'm sure lasted a lifetime. (chuckling): And clearly it left an impression on your relative.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
So you believed it to be true, I mean...
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah, I do.
APPRAISER:
The only issue that I had that I wanted to make sure it was definitely her is the fact that she was the only female performer in the show, and she was.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
A lot of Marilyn's lipsticks have actually come up for auction. Oh. And she wore some really fun, bright colors.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
She had something called Pink Spark...
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And Bachelor's Carnation. So who knows if we could match this to what shade she may have been wearing in Korea?
GUEST:
That's true.
APPRAISER:
But to me, this is the most extraordinary artifact, because it survived. It was never meant to. And the fact that your relative picked it up and sent it home, preserved it, and to have anything connected with Marilyn's performance there is pretty extraordinary, in my mind.
GUEST:
Oh, I totally agree, it's amazing.
APPRAISER:
So, now we're left with, what's it worth? I mean, this is a single-ply, military-issue tissue. This is not a luxurious item.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
But because Marilyn touched it, and her lipstick's on there...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...I think, conservatively, an auction estimate would be at least $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
And I can't imagine that there wouldn't be some Marilyn collectors who would definitely compete for that, because it's such a unique artifact.
GUEST:
Yeah-- that's amazing.
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