S9 Ep18 BONHAMS: Marissa Speer, Head of Designer Handbags & Fashion in the U.S. - on auctioning Jackie Kennedy’s 1968 wedding dress.

May 26, 2025

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On today’s show, we’re chatting with Marissa, the Head of Designer Handbags & Fashion in the U.S. at Bonhams Auction House. If you’ve listened to the episode we did with Bonham’s UK-based counterpart, Meg Randell, Bonhams is building on its success in offering handbags & fashion by introducing the category to the US market.

Marissa bring twenty-years experience to this position, previously she worked at Resurrection Vintage, where she learned to source, date, and place exquisite antique and couture pieces with the world’s most renowned fashion houses, museums, stylists.

Then, she worked at the world’s largest consignment company, The RealReal, where she specialized in authentication and valuation and had a 0% authenticity error rate.

What happens when a Dior newspaper dress (yes, THAT Sex and the City dress) goes from an $800 estimate to selling for $23,000? Or when a 90-year-old yacht mechanic decides it's time to auction Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress he's kept wrapped in tissue paper since the 1960s?

On this episode we talk about all this & more – the absolute treasures that fall under Marissa’s specialty for auctions at Bonhams – let’s dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

[2:39] A child of the 90s, Marissa grew up loving a Delia’s catalog.
[10:20] How she was recruited to start the Fashion & Handbags department at Bonham’s U.S. division.
[14:16] Why building relationships is so important in a client-driven business like vintage dealing or auctions.
[14:46] Selling Jackie Kennedy’s 1968 Valentino wedding dress, which had been stored on a yacht.
[20:59] Inside the most impressive collection of never-worn Margiela Marissa has ever seen.
[23:53] The heritage brands and couture designs Marissa works on at Bonhams, and how to value them.
[27:02] - How a Sex and the City reference turned an $800 Dior dress into a $23,000 auction moment.
[28:50] Working on the first-ever Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy fashion auction.
[30:28] How an auction house assesses trends and demand to best time the market value.
[31:25] Why it’s time to pull out your Y2K Louis Vuitton and your Dior saddlebags, plus other trending items.

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