Rare Marilyn Monroe Movie Posters Are Hitting the Auction Block

Framed photos of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress with inspirational quotes printed neatly at the bottom can be found online by the thousands, but original movie posters featuring the blonde bombshell are a lot harder to come by. Prop Store, a seller of movie memorabilia, will auction off some of Monroe's rarest movie posters in London and online this Thursday, June 28.

The most valuable lot is a poster of the 1956 film Bus Stop, which is expected to sell for at least $2600. The film is often described as Monroe's first serious performance as an actress, even though she had already starred in several films by that point. The poster was designed by British illustrator Tom Chantrell, who was also the creative force behind the posters for Star Wars in the late 1970s as well as hundreds of other films.

Also up for grabs are two posters from the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, in which Monroe starred alongside Laurence Olivier, and an insert poster of the popular 1959 film Some Like It Hot. Another Chantrell poster of the 1976 Monroe biopic Goodbye, Norma Jean is expected to be snatched up for at least $1900.

Over 185 posters, including the Monroe memorabilia, will be on display until June 28 as part of a free exhibition at BFI IMAX in Waterloo, London, which is also where the auction will be hosted. Online bids can be placed simultaneously on Prop Store’s website.

Items once owned by Monroe tend to command high prices at auction. Just last weekend, a black, off-the-shoulder dress once worn by the Hollywood icon sold for $50,000 at a Las Vegas auction. Most famously, the body-hugging dress she donned when she sang "Happy Birthday" to John F. Kennedy fetched $4.8 million at auction in 2016.