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Marilyn Monroe’s menorah may sell for $150,000

Marilyn Monroe’s menorah will go up for auction on Nov. 7.

By World Israel News Staff

CNN reports that a menorah that belonged to Hollywood screen legend Marilyn Monroe is going up for sale on Nov. 7. It may fetch as much as $150,000, estimates auctioneer Kestenbaum & Co.

Monroe, famous for playing comic “blonde bombshell” characters in the 1950s, converted to Judaism in 1956, prior to her marriage to Jewish playwright Arthur Miller. Miller’s rabbi, Robert Goldberg, presided over her conversion and their marriage.

According to the auction house the menorah was “gifted to the screen legend by the parents of her new husband.”

The menorah is brass-plated. Its base contains a wind-up mechanism that plays Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem.

According to CNN, the menorah was “sold to a private collector 20 years ago at an auction of Monroe’s effects,” and was “part of an exhibition at the Jewish Museum of New York, and showcased at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.”

Monroe Menorah

Marilyn Monroe’s menorah (Kestenbaum & Co.)

“Marilyn Monroe’s spellbinding magnetism knows no bounds. We are thrilled to be able to offer Marilyn’s personal Menorah at auction next week,” Daniel Kestenbaum, director of the auction house, said in a statement.

Monroe and Miller divorced in 1961. But Monroe remained committed to her adopted religion.

Her personal siddur, or Jewish prayer book, appears to confirm this. The siddur contained notations in pencil, apparently in Monroe’s hand. The spine was nearly detached indicating that it may have been used extensively.

It was auctioned off in Nov, 12, 2018 by J Greenstein & Co, Inc. It sold for $21,000.