First-ever copy of Playboy magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe naked goes to auction

Publish date: 2024-08-27

The first copy of Playboy magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe as centerfold is set to go under the hammer.

A world away from its modern, glossy successor, this copy boasts it is the first 'full color' magazine but only features black, white, grey and a touch of red.

Dated from December 1953, it is the first appearance of the 'Playboy Bunny', decked out in a smoking jacket with a pipe in his mouth.

In an introduction to Volume 1, Number 1, it clearly states that Playboy not 'a family magazine'.

Original: The first copy of Playboy magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe as centerfold is to go under the hammer Thursday in Los Angeles. A world away from its modern, glossy successor, this copy boasts it is the first full color magazine but is in black, white, grey and a touch of red

Original: The first copy of Playboy magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe as centerfold is to go under the hammer Thursday in Los Angeles. A world away from its modern, glossy successor, this copy boasts it is the first full color magazine but is in black, white, grey and a touch of red

Huge success: Dated December 1953, it is the first appearance of the Playboy Bunny, decked out in a smoking jacket with a pipe in his mouth. In an introduction to Volume 1, Number 1, it clearly states that Playboy not a family magazine

Huge success: Dated December 1953, it is the first appearance of the Playboy Bunny, decked out in a smoking jacket with a pipe in his mouth. In an introduction to Volume 1, Number 1, it clearly states that Playboy not a family magazine

The first pin-up: The magazine explains on this page how there will be a female pin-up 'in each new edition of Playboy'

The first pin-up: The magazine explains on this page how there will be a female pin-up 'in each new edition of Playboy'

In a throwback to more chauvinistic times the introduction carries on: 'If you're somebody's sister, wife or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion.'

The landmark magazine was expected to fetch just over $2,700 when went to auction on Thursday.

Laura Yntema, the auctions manager at Nate D. Sanders in Los Angeles, said the magazine really is a prized possession.

 'Only about 54,000 copies of the first issue Playboy were printed because Hugh Hefner didn't know if it would be successful and if there would be another issue,' Yntema said.

Chauvinistic: Showing the times that were 1953, the magazine's introduction says: 'If you're somebody's sister, wife or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion'

Chauvinistic: Showing the times that were 1953, the magazine's introduction says: 'If you're somebody's sister, wife or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion'

'Only about 54,000 copies of the first issue of Playboy were printed because Hugh Hefner didn't know if it would be successful and if there would be another issue,' Auctioneer Laura Yntema said

'Only about 54,000 copies of the first issue of Playboy were printed because Hugh Hefner didn't know if it would be successful and if there would be another issue,' Auctioneer Laura Yntema said

Behold, the bunny!: This is the first incarnation of the iconic Playboy Bunny, decked out in a smoking jacket with a pipe in his mouth.

Behold, the bunny!: This is the first incarnation of the iconic Playboy Bunny, decked out in a smoking jacket with a pipe in his mouth.

Ynetma continued: 'But it sold out almost immediately.

'This was mostly because of Marilyn, but also because the market didn't have anything like it at the time.

'So these first issue copies are quite rare, because so few of them were printed and also, no one expected how popular Playboy would become.'

Unsurprisingly for a magazine almost 62 years old, there is some surface abrasion but the rest is in an overall in very good condition.

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Share Sold-out: All copies of the first Playboy magazine sold out quickly, mostly due to the overwhelming popularity of Marilyn Monroe

Sold-out: All copies of the first Playboy magazine sold out quickly, mostly due to the overwhelming popularity of Marilyn Monroe

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