BBC Radio Scotland and Paul Fraser Collectibles discuss Marilyn Monroe's 'itch'

 

 

Paul Fraser Collectibles might be based in Bristol, England... Yet we get calls from all over the world from people who want to learn more about the investment benefits of collectibles.

Most recently it was BBC Radio Scotland. Its Newsdrive programme got in touch with us to ask about Profiles in History's upcoming auction of Debbie Reynolds' movie memorabilia collection.

The show is now up on the BBC's iPlayer, and you can hear Paul Fraser Collectibles' own Kylie Whitehead chat to BBC Radio Scotland by following the below link...

Click here to listen to our interview with BBC Radio Scotland. It begins at 1:48:00

In the interview, Kylie explains why Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress from The Seven Year Itch and Charlie Chaplin's cane and bowler hat could be a better investment than stocks or shares. These are just two of the iconic pieces appearing in the sale.


The legendary starlet and devoted
collector Ms Debbie Reynolds

Other top lots include Dorothy's Ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz and Julie Andrews's guitar from the Sound of Music. In all honesty, movie memorabilia doesn't come much more iconic than this...

'I'll get a catalogue, and I will gulp at the estimate!'

One person who we know will be keeping tabs on the show is the collector David Gainsborough Roberts, owner of one of the largest private collections of Monroe memorabilia.

David is also a friend of Debbie Reynolds, and mentioned the Seven Year Itch dress when we asked him to name his dream piece of Monroe memorabilia earlier this year...

"That I would like to own," he told us. "Ms Debbie Reynolds is going to sell it... She's got a marvellous collection. So I'll get a catalogue, and I will gulp at the estimate!

"I just hope that the person who buys it is going to look after it. I'd love to have it - but I'm afraid to say it's going to be out of my price range!"

'They were really just throwing it away...'

Of course, Ms Reynolds is no stranger to Hollywood's Golden Age herself. Her own Debbie Reynolds Show ran between 1969-1970, and Elizabeth Taylor was among the star's closest friends.

Yet it was a visit to an auction by film studio MGM in 1970 which sealed Ms Reynolds's fate as a collector. As she tells BBC Radio Scotland in the above clip...  

"At the time, the people that owned the studio decided they were interested in real estate, they weren't interested in any other memorabilia. They were really just throwing it away, all of the music went under the freeway..."


The most iconic dress of all time? The dress worn by Monroe in the Seven Year Itch, in the famous scene when she stands over the grate (pictured top right)


If MGM's executives could have known how much memorabilia investment values would outperform property 40 years later, they might have reconsidered... Fortunately, Ms Reynolds had foresight the studio heads lacked.

"I am a fan of all of these stars, and I wanted to save their moment for a museum for the future," she said. "I didn't reach that goal, which makes me sad. But these things will [now] be shared."

They certainly will. High-end collectors and museums from around the world will no doubt be interested in the collection when it goes under the hammer, later this month.

Watch this space for further news on the sale, which will take place in Beverly Hills, California, and online.

 

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