You Can Buy Hugh Hefner's Stuff at Auction ー and Some of It's Cheap
*By Carlo Versano*
If you've ever wanted to sleep in Hugh Hefner's silk pajamas, you're about to get your chance.
Various pairs of those pjs in a rainbow of colors ー "straight from his closet at the Playboy Mansion" ー are among the items going on the auction block in Los Angeles Friday and Saturday. Julien's Auctions, known for its sales of ephemera from high-profile stars like Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, is inviting the public to bid on any of the available [836 items](https://www.juliensauctions.com/exhibition-press-release?id=202) .
Martin Nolan, the executive director of Julein's Auctions, gave Cheddar an up-close look at a few of his favorite pieces. And some are priced to sell.
Bidding for Hef's famous sailor hat will start around $100, while the first key to the first Playboy Club is expected to go in the $200 to $400 range. Nolan called the items for auction "great conversation pieces" but also "tangible assets."
"Over time, it's likely they will appreciate in value," Nolan said.
Indeed, some already have. When Hefner was starting Playboy Enterprises, he famously paid $500 for previously unreleased nude photos of Marilyn Monroe, which he then used as the centerpiece of the inaugural Playboy issue in 1953. Hefner's personal copy of that issue, which originally sold on newsstands for 50 cents, is expected to fetch up to $5,000. Monroe, whose image Hefner appropriated to start his lucrative business empire, once [said](https://books.google.com/books?id=i1DVLf3y36kC&lpg=PA84&dq=%22I%20never%20even%20received%20a%20thank-you%20from%20all%20those%20who%20made%20millions%20off%20a%20nude%20Marilyn%20photograph.%20I%20even%20had%20to%20buy%20a%20copy%20of%20the%20magazine%20to%20see%20myself%20in%20it%22&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q=thank-you&f=false) she never got a thank you from Hef, and that she paid for her own copy of the issue to see her photos. Hefner, who died in 2017, bought the crypt next to Monroe's and is now interred there.
The proceeds from the auction will benefit the Hugh Hefner Foundation, his personal philanthropy that promotes issues of civil liberties and First Amendment rights.
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