An auction in Los Angeles has shown that the myth of Marilyn Monroe continues to rise in value. Personal items belonging to the actress, from dresses and cosmetics to furniture from her home, were sold for nearly two million dollars. Among the most coveted pieces was a diary with notes on acting techniques, which fetched $140,800, revealing the interest in the most intimate details of the star.
Monroe's diary as a legacy of analog data 📓
Beyond its sentimental value, the sold diary offers a case study on personal information management in the pre-digital era. With handwritten notes on acting methods, contacts, and production notes, this object functions as a record of unstructured data. From a technical perspective, its preservation and subsequent auction demonstrates how the physical medium (paper and ink) can preserve contextual metadata that a modern digital system would lose if not properly indexed. The final price reflects the difficulty of replicating that authenticity.
Your old high school diary isn't worth $140 😅
While Monroe's diary sells for a fortune, yours is probably gathering dust in a drawer with heart doodles and math notes. The difference: she was Marilyn Monroe and you are someone reading this at three in the afternoon. Luckily, you can still pretend you have a similar treasure and price it on Wallapop. Spoiler: no one will pay 140,000 bucks for your shopping list.