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Groucho Marx's personal wire rim eyeglasses. Marx, the lead star of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's (MGM) Marx Brothers films alongside his brothers Chico and Harpo, wore his signature "Windsor-style" glasses beneath a head of greased hair and above a bushy mustache as Otis B. Driftwood in Sam Wood and Edmund Goulding's A Night at the Opera as well as in Sam Wood's A Day at the Races as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush.

After both films became major hits for MGM, Marx's glasses became signatures of his public appearances throughout his life. He was photographed wearing them at live radio show tapings throughout the 1940s, and Arthur Marx, Groucho's son, included photos of his father wearing his glasses in the book Groucho: A Photographic Journey. Marx's personal secretary and archivist, Steve Stoliar, also referenced the glasses in his book Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House. Marx's glasses were placed inside a safe deposit box along with his sole Academy Award® after his death in 1977.

These metal wire frame glasses originate from the collection of Frank Ferrante, who portrayed Marx across stage, television, and audio programming over three decades in direct collaboration with Groucho's children Arthur and Miriam. They feature a beveled, saddle-style nose bridge and wraparound temple stems as well as a brown leatherette wrapped metal Optics by Victor eyeglasses case with a tan microfiber cleaning cloth. These frames do not have lenses and exhibit loose temple stems, as well as grime to the case. Dimensions: (case) 6.5" x 2.5" x 1" (16.5 cm x 6.5 cm x 2.75 cm)

Estimate: $25,000 - 50,000

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