Iconic Madonna dress and pre-Beatles drum kit go up for auction in California

[February 19, 2022]    (Reuters) - The pink Marilyn Monroe-style dress worn by pop star Madonna in her 1984 "Material Girl" music video and a drum kit used by the prototype Beatles are some of the items going under the hammer at a music memorabilia auction in California.

The Madonna lot, consisting of a pink satin dress with bustier top and oversized pink satin bow, satin opera gloves and rhinestone bracelets, is estimated to fetch between $100,000 and $200,000 when it goes under the hammer in May, as part of the "Music Icons" auction at Julien's Auctions.

"We have Madonna's 'Material Girl' ensemble that she wore in the video 'Material Girl' in 1985, where she was channeling Marilyn Monroe from the 1950s film that Marilyn did, 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'," said Darren Julien, the founder and CEO of Julien's Auctions.

"It's one of the most historic and iconic pieces of Madonna... very few items that are this iconic of hers are in the public domain," he added.

The dress was originally made for a 1980 television movie about Monroe but was rented from a movie prop company for use in Madonna's "Material Girl" music video. The video was inspired by Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

A rare drum kit from John Lennon and Paul McCartney's first band, The Quarrymen, is also going under the hammer, with estimates from Julien's Auctions between $400,000 and $600,000.

"The main thing we have is Colin Hanton's drum kit that he used as a Quarryman and The Quarrymen, of course, was founded by John (Lennon) and Paul (McCartney), which was the very first band that they were in together. And Colin was the drummer from 1956 to 1959," said Julien.

"Ringo Starr's drum kit that we sold in 2015, we sold for $2.1 million so this is a really important piece of rock and roll history, and there's very few items that come up available from The Quarrymen," he added.

Other items up for auction include Bruce Springsteen's hand-written "Glory Road" lyrics, The Beatles #0000002 White Album Mono Pressing, and the t-shirt worn on the cover of Bon Jovi's 1986 album "Slippery When Wet."

(Reporting by Alan Devall; editing by Diane Craft)

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