A greeting card from Marilyn Monroe’s father, sells for $31,000 at auction

• Just in time for the holidays, one of Marilyn Monroe’s most personal possessions is going home with a devoted fan.
• Over the weekend in Beverly Hills, a greeting card with a handwritten note to Monroe from her father
• Charles Stanley Gifford, fetched a hefty sum at Julien’s Auctions and TCM Present: Icons & Idols Hollywood.

“Sold for $31,250,” said the auction house on Twitter. “From Marilyn Monroe‘s father, Stanley C. Gifford, a get-well card.”

According to Variety, Gifford was proven to be the late screen legend’s father through DNA testing, and the discovery will be explored in the upcoming documentary Marilyn, Her Final Secret.

“This card is the only known material artefact that establishes any connection or communication between Gifford and his famous daughter,” says a press release announcing the auction last month.

According to Scott Fortner, a Monroe historian/collector and co-host of the All Things Marilyn podcast, he “discovered the card purely by chance” while preparing for the auction.

Items from the infamous night Marilyn Monroe sang to President John F. Kennedy Proceed to the Auction

“This is the only known documented evidence of a relationship between Monroe and Gifford, which answers the question of whether or not she knew or had contact with her biological father,” Fortner said on the podcast last month.

Julien estimated that the card would sell for $2,000 to $3,000, and it features art on the front of a little girl standing on a music note, with a handwritten note inside.

“Dear Marylyn [sic], this cheery little get-well note comes specially [sic] to say that lots of thoughts and wishes, too, are with you every day,” Gifford began, before the card’s pre-written greeting: ”

Sold for $31,250. A get-well greeting card from Marilyn Monroe’s father, Stanley C. Gifford.

Julien’s Auctions and TCM present “Icons and Idols: Hollywood” Saturday and Sunday in Beverly Hills and online at https://t.co/tzS6JKLi4p. pic.twitter.com/9HYgVO6eS1

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— Julien’s Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) December 18, 2022

“A little prayer too,” Gifford added before signing his name, “Stanley Gifford, Red Rock Dairy Farm, Hemet, Calif.”

Monroe (née Norma Jeane Mortenson) was born to Gladys Pearl Baker and Baker’s former coworker Gifford, but grew up with no real relationship with her father.

“It is believed that Gifford did not want to upset his wife and children by allowing Monroe to be a part of his life,” the press release said of Monroe and Gifford’s strained relationship, noting that he hand-delivered the card to Monroe while she was in the hospital.

Other items in Monroe’s collection included lipstick tubes, false eyelashes, and eye shadows that once belonged to the star, as well as several dresses that she owned and wore.

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