Playboy, Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner collectibles for auction to go on display in Hong Kong
- More than 1,000 artefacts from the estates of Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe and the archives of Playboy are up for auction in the United States in March
- Some of the items will be on display at the Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe exhibition in Hong Kong, starting on January 27
The Playboy bunny logo in the vivid style of pop artist Andy Warhol is a perfect example of the power of branding. And it can be yours.
In March, Los Angeles auction house Julien’s Auctions, nicknamed “Auction House to the Stars”, will be selling the aptly titled Playboy Bunny, a 1985 silk screen print by Warhol, as well as about 1,000 other artefacts from three collections: the Playboy archives; Hugh Hefner’s personal heirlooms and the estate of Marilyn Monroe.
Some of the highlights are being shown at Hong Kong’s Fringe Club and will shed light on how the legacies of two figures of 20th century America popular culture are forever linked.
Both born in 1926, Monroe and Hefner gained global fame, when she appeared in Hefner’s inaugural 1953 issue of Playboy, the cover image and centrefold launching the blonde bombshell’s career and helping Hefner transform Playboy into a global brand.
Even in death the pair remain close: Hefner was buried next to the Hollywood starlet – Monroe died of a drug overdose in 1962 aged 36 – after his death, in 2017, aged 91.