A rare copy of Playboy #1 is valued at up to $5,000 at Sotheby’s.
It’s set to star in the Highlights from Erotic: Passion & Desire sale in London on February 18.
Issued in 1953, the brand became the most popular men’s magazine almost overnight.
Hugh Hefner sold around 50,000 copies of the first Playboy
One of the main reasons for that was the inclusion of an exclusive nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe.
The star had featured in a glamour shoot in 1949, when she was still a struggling actor, for which she was paid just $50. Fast forward three years and she was the biggest name on the planet.
Marilyn later wrote in her autobiography: “I never even received a thank-you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph. I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it...
“I admitted it was me who posed for that nude calendar even when the Fox executives became nervous and believed this would cause the ruination of any films I would appear in and also the end of my movie career.
“Of course they were wrong. The fans, my public, cheered when I admitted it was me, and that calendar and that Playboy first-issue publicity helped my career.”
In 2016, a CGC 9.4-graded copy of Playboy #1 sold for a world record $71,700.
The present specimen is nowhere near as well preserved, but remains in decent condition.
We have this incredible Marilyn Monroe signed newspaper clipping for sale.
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