LOS ANGELES, CA.- Julien’s Auctions, the world–record breaking auction house, will celebrate the rebel, entrepreneur and activist who launched the ground breaking men’s lifestyle magazine and built it into an empire by transforming Playboy into an iconic global brand. Property from the Collection of Hugh M. Hefner will take place on Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1, 2018 live in Beverly Hills, CA and online at www.juliensauctions.com. It was also announced today that all proceeds of the auction of the legendary magazine founder, who was recognized as one of the leading voices in the ongoing battles for freedom of expression, civil rights and sexual freedom, including reproductive and LGBT rights, will benefit The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation. Since its founding in 1964, the Foundation has supported organizations that advocate for and defend civil rights and civil liberties, with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies.

Hugh Marston Hefner was born on April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents had grown up in Nebraska and his father’s roots descended from the Massachusetts Puritans. In high school, Hefner started chronicling his life in a long running comic strip and reinvented himself as "Hef." He also began exploring his love of film and publishing, shooting home horror movies and starting a student newspaper. After graduating in 1944, he served in the Army as an infantry clerk and continued his writing and cartooning in military newspapers. After the service, Hefner studied art, including anatomy, at the Art Institute of Chicago and then psychology at the University of Illinois, where he also drew cartoons for the daily newspaper, and edited the campus humor magazine, Shaft where he introduced a new feature called Coed of the Month. While in graduate school at Northwestern University, Hefner wrote a paper on sex laws in America and continued to sell his cartoons at various publications. He worked at Esquire magazine as a copywriter, but when they moved their offices to NYC, he decided to stay in Chicago and start a men’s magazine of his own.

In December 1953, with $8,000 cobbled together from family and friends, including $1,000 from his mother, Hefner published the first issue of Playboy featuring a nude pinup shot of Marilyn Monroe as the centerfold. The issue sold more than 50,000 copies and a publishing phenomenon was born. Celebrities and models clamoured to pose for the magazine that showcased beautiful women, lifestyle advice and some of the most acclaimed and famous journalism and literary pieces of all time including the first Playboy interview with Miles Davis conducted by Alex Haley, a 1965 sit down with Martin Luther King Jr., 1974’s "The Great Shark Hunt" by Hunter S. Thompson, fiction by Margaret Atwood and more.

Beyond being Editor–Publisher of the magazine, Hefner embodied the Playboy philosophy and image, flanked by beautiful Playboy Bunnies and hosting legendary parties with the rich and famous at the Playboy mansions in Chicago and Los Angeles, dressed in his trademark smoking jacket and silk pajamas, smoking a pipe.
Hugh Hefner's Cufflinks

Throughout the years, Playboy Enterprises expanded into television, film, resorts, nightclubs and consumer products, all of which were emblazoned with its iconic logo recognized all over the worlda silhouette of the head of a dapper, bow–tie–wearing rabbit. The Playboy empire included the ground–breaking syndicated television shows Playboy’s Penthouse (1959–1961) and Playboy After Dark (1969) hosted by Hefner and featuring iconic performers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Lenny Bruce, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, The Grateful Dead, James Brown and Ike and Tina Turner among others; and forty Playboy Club properties throughout the U.S. and in England and the Bahamas where stars such as Bob Hope, Ray Charles, Steve Allen, Ann–Margret, and Dizzy Gillespie performed. Playboy was the first national magazine to go online, back in 1994 and had successful international editions of the magazine in over two dozen countries.

Hefner was considered one of the most influential people in the 20th century and among the many honors and distinctions he received throughout his lifetime include the Henry Johnson Fisher Award, the highest honor of the Magazine Publishers of America (2002); inductions into the Hall of Fame of the American Society of Magazine Editors (1998) and New York Friars Club (2001); a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Press Club (2011); two Guinness Book of World Records; a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star and more. Hefner died September 27, 2017 at the age of 91 of natural causes.

Some highlights of the auction include:

• Hugh Hefner’s complete personal set of bound volumes of Playboy magazines (estimate: $20,000 – $40,000)

• Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Legacy Collection Gold, a limited edition set of 48 chromogenic and gelatin silver prints by various photographers in a folio wooden case with gold embossed title, published in 2007 (estimate: $20,000–$30,000)

• A vintage 1946 coin–operated Wurlitzer jukebox programmed by Hefner from his game house containing 24 original 78 rpm record albums by artists such as Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Harry James, Johnny Mercer, Lena Horne, and others (estimate: $10,000–$20,000)

• Hefner’s five large folio volumes of Salvador Dali’s "Biblia Sacra" (estimate: $8,000–$10,000)

• A custom 1974 Monopoly board game that includes a pipe smoking Hefner and a Playboy Bunny, among other Mansion regulars, custom Hefner Monopoly money, houses, hotels, cards and more in a custom wooden box marked "Monopoly Parts for HMH" (estimate: $6,000–$8,000)

• Artist Bill Mack’s portrait of Hefner painted in commemoration of the restoration of the Hollywood Sign in 1978 (estimate: $4,000–$6,000)

• Hefner’s bespoke smoking jacket (estimate: $3,000–$5,000) and silk pajamas (estimate: $1,000–$2,000)

• Hefner’s U.S. passport issued May 26, 2016 with a 1970 vaccination record from 1969–70, and 17 signed American Express Traveler’s Cheques (estimate: $3,000–$5,000)

• Hefner’s portrait of Shannon Tweed painted by Leroy Neiman (estimate: $3,000–$5,000)

• His custom black leather Jeff Hamilton Lakers motorcycle jacket with "Lakers" and "Playboy" logos (estimate: $3,000–$5,000)

• Hefner’s personal copy of the first issue of Playboy magazine, in 1953 featuring Marilyn Monroe on the cover (estimate: $3,000–$5,000)

• Hefner’s first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925) (estimate: $3,000–$4,000)

• A carved Briar pipe with custom Playboy Bunny logo (estimate: $2,000–$3,000)

• Hefner’s 1980 "N.B.A. World Champions" ring with one side engraved "NBA 1980" and on the other "Hefner/Los Angeles Lakers/123–102" (estimate: $2,000–$4,000)

• A scale model of Hefner’s childhood home in Chicago (estimate: $2,500–$3,500)

• Hefner’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star from his mansion (estimate: $800–$1,200)

• His bronze Vanitas 1876 Harvard Lampoon medal (estimate: $1,000–$2,000)

• Hefner’s Asprey of London monogrammed "HH" leather travel backgammon set (estimate: $1,000–$2,000)

• Hefner’s leather bound Saturday Night Live script when he hosted the show on October 15, 1977 (estimate: $400–$600)

• An original vintage plate engraved "Si Non Oscillas Noli Tintinnare" from the Playboy Mansion in Chicago which translates to "If You Don’t Swing, Don’t Ring" (estimate: $400–$600)

• His vintage Underwood Standard Portable typewriter used in college (estimate: $300–$500)

• An original Playboy Club key with "HMH" and "C1" on the back (estimate: $300–$500)

• Hefner’s leather bound bible imprinted with his name on the cover and his American Secular Humanist Church ordained minister card (estimate: $200–$400)

• His Playboy logo cuff links, breakfast tray, white captain’s hat, monogrammed playing card deck holder, Playboy VIP card and more.