A Current Autograph Sale Ignites Interest in a Marilyn Monroe Shopping Mystery

There is a lot of mystery surrounding Marilyn Monroe and her life more than 60 years after her death. The Hollywood icon is often discussed as a tragic figure who lived an unattainable life. Despite living a lifestyle few people could ever understand, she also engaged in everyday, mundane tasks, like shopping and writing checks. A check she wrote on the day her breakout hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released is currently for sale. Its sale has ignited a mystery about what she might have bought on that fateful afternoon.

A check signed by Marilyn Monroe ignites a decades-old mystery

On July 23, 1953, Marilyn Monroe walked into Marvin Hime, a famed jewelry store, and made a purchase. She paid for that purchase using a check from her personal account. Whatever she purchased, she paid $87.09 for.

While the check is probably one of dozens that have circulated the collecting world since her tragic death, there is something special about the document. According to Just Collecting News, the purchase was made on the day Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released to the public. The movie would go on to make Monroe a household name. She portrayed Lorelei Lee in the movie.

While it is nice to think she might have purchased herself a celebratory jewelry piece to commemorate the occasion, we’ll never know what she walked out of the store with. What we do know is that it was probably luxurious. While $87 isn’t a lot by today’s standards, the sum would be worth close to $1,000 today.

Other checks Monroe signed have been sold to collectors

The check written out to Marvin Hime is far from the first check signed by Marilyn Monroe that has surfaced. In 2012, Heritage Auctions sold a check that is believed to be the last one the starlet signed before her death. It fetched $15,000. The check, dated Aug. 4, 1962, went to Pilgrim’s Furniture. According to the auction house, Monroe paid a delivery driver who dropped off a chest of drawers. Monroe wrote the check for $228. 80, fulfilling her obligation to the furniture store in full. She died late that evening, although she was not discovered until the next day.

Additional checks written from Monroe’s account have surfaced over the years. Checks made out to utility companies and other creditors have occasionally been sold. Still, the check written on the day Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released remains a mystery. We’ll probably never know what she purchased on the day she became a Hollywood a-lister.