Vintage Marilyn circa 1950 … images courtesy of Anton Fury
A New Jersey photographer, Anton Fury, purchased an envelope of negatives in the early 1980’s that contained vintage photos of Marilyn Monroe. The mystery images are believed to be circa 1950 and may turn out to be the ultimate garage sale find.
Fury bought the images thirty years ago for $2 at a yard sale in Parsippany, N.J. It wasn’t until he viewed them at home with the use of a light box and loupe that he discovered that he had stumbled upon something of potential future value.
Times were tough for fledgling photographer Fury, who was not in a position to do anything more than store the 33 images of 24-year-old Monroe that were taken before she became an iconic figure.
Three decades have since passed and Fury recently released some of the images to the public to draw attention to his find. He has also enlisted the assistance of art dealer and appraiser David Streets to help unlock the mystery of the pics. The dealer said: “The fun part about it is we’re all kind of sharing in the beginning stages. The adventure is going to be finding out where, who, what, why and when.”
Street went on to say: “Hopefully someone out there, perhaps another photographer, because there are tons of photographers who did extensive work with her, will be able to shed some light on this.”
Fury hopes to auction off the images when the time is right.
Monroe’s film career spanned 1947 – 1961. She reportedly engaged in a close relationship with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy. She famously sang ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ at the White House on Saturday, May 10, 1962.
The dress she wore during her sultry performance sold in 1999 at a New York auction for $1.26 million. She died tragically less than three months after her Washington D.C. performance.
View more iconic photos and watch vintage video footage of Marilyn singing to Kennedy at his 45th birthday party: