WE’RE SELLING THE MAGIC OF MEMORY
Michael Jackson’s distinctive glove, Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress and Princess Diana’s elite style – a Roscommon man is behind the sale of some of the most iconic outfits in the world
From Kiltoom, Co Roscommon, to Hollywood is quite the journey, but it is the extraordinary trajectory that Martin Nolan’s life has taken. The effervescent Irishman is the founder, executive director and a principal of Julien’s Auction, a company that auctions celebrity sports, film, music and art memorabilia with record-breaking success. Martin has managed the sales of iconic artifacts and notable collections including the property of Marilyn Monroe, Pelé, Mohammed
Ali, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Lady Gaga, Cher, Michael Jackson, U2, Jimi Hendrix, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, among others.
In 2016, he oversaw the three-day Marilyn Monroe auction, featuring the infamous Jean Louis dress worn by the star at Madison Square Garden in 1962 (pictured). Tomorrow, he will oversee the auction of 800 items owned by Janet Jackson at the Hard Rock Café in New York.
The famous names tumble from his lips with such speed and familiarity that it is hard to keep up. Yet despite the starry nature of his work,
Martin is still the boy from Roscommon who makes regular trips to visit his 92-year-old mother Kay who ‘is still in Athlone and still the boss’.
Martin’s journey to LA began with a Green Card, which he won in the Donnelly Visa scheme. The Roscommon man arrived in New York on a Tuesday and was working in the Hilton Hotel by Thursday. By 1992, Martin had started to train to become a stockbroker and remained on Wall
Street until 2005, when he met Darren Julien in New York. At first, Martin tried to woo Darren to become a client of his at Merrill Lynch, but Darren had other ideas. ‘He hired me as the finance guy for Julien’s Auctions which had just started,’ says Martin. He has never looked back.
‘We were doing the second estate auction for Marilyn Monroe in June 2005 and it was all new to me,’ he says. ‘I came from the stock exchange, which is you bring buyers and sellers together as the broker, to an auction room, which is buyers and sellers too. So I had to learn and understand how people would want to come and see these items, smell these items and, if we could, they would love to touch these items. It’s just all about what these items represented. I came to Julien’s for six months, I moved from New York to Los Angeles and then in 2010, I became partner.’
Recently Julien’s has partnered with Turner Classic Movies on its Hollywood auctions. Attending the TCM festival in April this year and listening to Steven Spielberg discuss his conservation work restoring old films, Martin says it really impressed him.
‘What movies meant to people over the years and how people were influenced by the fashion the celebs wore, the cars they drove, the jewellery they were wearing... we’re selling stuff that nobody actually needs, like we’re not selling anything that’s a necessity or useful really to anyone, but what we’re selling is the magic of memory, the nostalgia that people have.
‘I think in about 2010, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London did a show on 100 years of Hollywood costumes, and it gave great validation to what we do. When Darren came from classic car auctions to move to Sotheby’s in 1999, they called him a “junk dealer”. They wanted the jewellery and the fine art. They didn’t even want him working out of the gallery in Beverly Hills because it was looked down upon.
‘Then you see that amazing exhibition by the V&A, then David Bowie’s exhibition came – it sold more tickets than anyone ever before or since.
‘KIM CREATED A WHOLE NEW AWARENESS ABOUT MARILYN. THE DRESS WOULD SELL NOW FOR $10MILLION’