Marilyn Monroe 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' Dress
- Maker
- Marilyn Monroe / Jean Louis
- Year
- 1962
- Rank
- 15 of 100
Marilyn Monroe 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' Dress
Marilyn Monroe 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' Dress by Marilyn Monroe / Jean Louis (1962) is ranked 15 in the FLOAT 100 for Memorabilia. It sold for $4,810,000 on 17 November 2016. The most expensive dress ever sold at auction; pure Camelot-era pop history.
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
The most expensive dress ever sold at auction; pure Camelot-era pop history.
Flesh-toned beaded gown worn to sing 'Happy Birthday' to JFK at his 45th-birthday gala; bought by Ripley's
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $4,810,000
- Kind
- Realized at auction
- Date
- 17 November 2016
Julien's Auctions. $4.81M.
This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08