This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/20/2019
Marilyn Monroe's personally owned and worn rhinestone crystal brooch that was given to her by husband baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. After DiMaggio gave Marilyn the brooch it quickly became a personal favorite of hers. The internet yields only two other auctions of items that Monroe was given by Joe DiMaggio - her diamond eternity band (sold for $772,500 in 1999 and then $504,000 in 2017) and her Mikimoto pearls that were sold privately in 1998 but assumed by many to be sold somewhere in the $100,000 range. Contrary to popular belief, Monroe had very few things of value in her jewelry collection. Almost everything in her collection was costume jewelry as she was a very non-materialistic person. Joe DiMaggio realized that his wife was not the diamond loving siren like what she portrayed in her films and started to gift her small pieces of paste jewelry instead. Monroe preferred these pieces to the expensive ones Joe had originally given her and would wear them frequently. The brooch comes from the personal collection of Sidney Rosenstein who worked in the motion picture industry, on both coasts, from the 1940's through the mid-1980's. Over the years of his working in the industry, Rosenstein acquired a collection of cinema and star memorabilia. He obtained this brooch from Inez Melson, Marilyn Monroe's business manager in the early 1960's, shortly after Monroe's death. Melson informed Rosenstein that the brooch had been a favorite of Marilyn's because DiMaggio had given it to her as a gift. Very good condition. The brooch is accompanied by a letter of provenance from Sidney Rosenstein's son David Rosenstein, the Executor of his Estate, as well as a Gotta Have Rock & Roll™ Certificate of Authenticity.