Marilyn Monroe's Beloved High Heels Now Worth Half a Million Francs
The elegant size-37 high heels are old, worn down, and patched—but they carry the sweat of Marilyn Monroe. In 1999, Esther Kreis and her husband, Daniel Amberg, paid the equivalent of 56,000 Swiss francs for them at Christie's millennium auction in New York. The couple won the bid for the shoes, plunging themselves into debt. They had borrowed part of the money from friends.
Nearly thirty years later, the value of the footwear has soared. According to Esther Kreis, experts now estimate them to be worth around half a million Swiss francs. For comparison, Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold at auction in 2024 for the equivalent of roughly 30 million francs.
Esther Kreis was determined to own the shoes. She had already taken the stage herself as a Marilyn impersonator. After the 2006 premiere of her musical Happy Birthday, Marilyn in Zurich, she was honored by Germany's most prestigious fan club as the best Monroe performer. Yet she sees herself not as a lookalike but as an actress, Kreis says.
Monroe wore the gold stilettos in films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Blondinen bevorzugt) and How to Marry a Millionaire (Wie angelt man sich einen Millionär), as well as in countless pin-up and advertising photos, according to the Swiss entertainer.
In February 1954, Monroe embarked on a four-day USO tour to South Korea—and the gold stilettos went with her.
Monroe called these shoes her favorites because she felt so happy performing for the troops, Kreis explains. It was her first time singing live on stage; before that, she had only sung in films.
Monroe loved the shoes so much that she had them repaired multiple times and wore them for a full decade until her death.
"I have never worn Marilyn Monroe's favorite shoes—and I never will," Esther Kreis declares.
Today, the artist couple keeps the precious footwear securely locked in a safe. When Daniel Amberg was asked by The New York Times in 1999 whether his wife would wear the shoes in her Marilyn shows, he replied: "They're Marilyn's shoes, not Esther's."
Now, Kreis says: "I have never worn Marilyn Monroe's favorite shoes, nor will I ever. They have become a priceless work of art and a cultural artifact." If the shoes ever leave the safe, it is only for exhibitions.
The artist couple, Esther Kreis and Daniel Amberg, owns other items once belonging to the Hollywood icon, including the complete original 1952 nude calendar and a 1955 press photo. The latter was distributed when Monroe—one of the first women to do so—founded her own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions.
"I'm perfectly content with what we have, but my husband is a collector and would love to acquire more," Kreis says. For her, though, one thing is certain: "Marilyn Monroe's favorite shoes are our greatest treasure."
