A signed passport photo of Marilyn Monroe taken the day she and her new husband, Yankees great Joe DiMaggio, were prepping for their 1954 Japanese honeymoon sold for more than $21,000 at an auction this week.
The tiny photo — 2.25 x 2.75 inches — which is inscribed in red ink, “To Mr. Bolds, Thanks and my warmest regards, Marilyn Monroe DiMaggio,” sold Wednesday for $21,655, according to Boston-based RR Auction.
The famous duo — who tied the knot two weeks earlier — went to a federal building in San Francisco on Jan. 29, 1954, to get passports for their upcoming honeymoon and work trip in Japan.
But the then-27-year-old Monroe — born Norma Jeane Mortenson — didn’t have a photo for the travel document, so “Joltin’ Joe” improvised by going to a nearby arcade with a photo of the “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” star, making multiple copies of it.
When the then-40-year-old Yankee Clipper returned roughly an hour later, the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” performer signed one of the copies for the passport officer, Harry E. Bolds, SWNS first reported, citing the auction house.
The signed vintage matte image did not ultimately end up in Monroe’s passport, but it was apparently one of the copies the famous outfielder made that day.
On the passport application, Monroe put her legal name down as “Norma Jeane DiMaggio” and she listed the retired MLBer as her emergency contact and put his Bay Area city address down — “2150 Beach Street” — on the document.
On the Japan trip, the pair — who were only married for nine months — not only celebrated their nuptials but also took care of business, too, with Monroe jetting off to Korea in February to perform for the US troops and DiMaggio consulting with Japanese baseball teams for their spring training.
DiMaggio was the middle of Monroe’s three husbands. Los Angeles Police Officer James Dougherty was her first, while playwright Arthur Miller, whom she divorced shortly before she died at 36, was her last.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
