Monroe dress a success at auction (Wizbang Pop!)

A black cocktail dress worn by the platinum bombshell in the film "The Misfits" sold at auction yesterday for $66,000 - more than three times its presale estimate.

Two other items belonging to Monroe - a white ermine coat and a handwritten personal address book - fetched a combined $81,600 at yesterday's sale at Christie's auction house.

"Marilyn has such star power. Audiences today are very interested in celebrity material," Christie's spokeswoman Sara Fox said.

Among the items sold at the auction were numerous pieces of Andy Warhol memorabilia - including one of his trademark white wigs, which went for $10,800.

A Polaroid photo of Muhammad Ali from 1977, signed by Warhol, pulled in $19,200, while a Warhol Polaroid of Mick Jagger snapped in 1975 went for $15,600.

A copy of the book "Gone With the Wind" - inscribed by Rhett Butler himself, Clark Gable, to the film's producer, David O. Selznick - fetched $10,200.

In other Auction News:

Bidders flipped their wigs Thursday at a Manhattan auction where one of pop art icon Andy Warhol's signature silver hairpieces sold for $10,800.

The wig, complete with three strips of toupee tape applied to its inside, was worn by Warhol during the early 1980s. Warhol first began wearing the hairpieces in the early 1960s, and they eventually turned into fashion accessories more than a cover-up for his baldness. Presale estimates for the hairpiece were $4,000 to $6,000.

It was one of several lots put up at Christie's auction house by Jeffrey Warhola, the artist's nephew. A 1977 Polaroid photo of Muhammad Ali, signed by Warhol, sold for $19,200. And a Warhol Polaroid of Mick Jagger from 1975 went for $15,600.

NYDN