Marilyn Monroe.Photo: Frank Povolny/Twentieth Century Fox/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
One ofMarilyn Monroe’s most personal belongings is going home with a devoted fan just in time for the holidays.
A greeting card with a handwritten note to Monroe from her father Charles Stanley Gifford sold for a hefty sum atJulien’s Auctions and TCM Present: Icons & Idols Hollywoodover the weekend in Beverly Hills.
“Sold for $31,250,” the auction house announced on Twitter. “A get-well greeting card from Marilyn Monroe’s father, Stanley C. Gifford.”
Gifford was proven to be the late screen legend’s father via DNA testing, and the discovery will be explored in the upcoming documentaryMarilyn, Her Final Secret, according toVariety.
“This card is the only known material artifactthat establishes any connection or communication between Gifford and his famous daughter,” reads a press release issued last month, when PEOPLE exclusively announced the auction.
“This is the only known documented evidence of a relationship between Monroe and Gifford, which solves the mystery of whether or not she knew or had contact with her biological father,” Fortner said last month on the podcast.
The card, which Julien estimated would be sold for $2,000 to $3,000, features art on the front of a little girl standing on a music note, with a handwritten note inside.
Card to Marilyn Monroe from her father, Stanley Gifford.Julien’s Auctions
“Dear Marylyn [sic],” Gifford began, before the card’s pre-written greeting: “This cheery little get-well note comes specially [sic] to say that lots of thoughts and wishes, too, are with you every day.”
“A little prayer too,” Gifford ended with his own words before signing the card, “Stanley Gifford, Red Rock Dairy Farm, Hemet, Calif.”
Monroe (née Norma Jeane Mortenson) was born to Gladys Pearl Baker and Baker’s one-time co-worker Gifford, but infamously did not have a real relationship with her father growing up.
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source: people.com
