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Homeowners hoping to acquire a little Kennedy glamour may be among those bidding today at the opening of an auction of more than 600 pieces of furniture, paintings, jewellery and bric-a-brac from the Kennedy family homes.
The second auction of property from the estate of Jackie Onassis may not feature such showstoppers as the Onassis engagement ring - it alone achieved $2.5 million of the $34.5 million total of the first Kennedy auction in 1996 - but with books, magazine and crockery among items with estimates below $100 it may offer something for everybody.
This week’s three-day sale has a modest estimate of about $1 million (£780,000) in total but the auction house, Sotheby’s, allows that prices could increase sharply as they did in 1996, when a humidor given to President John F. Kennedy by Milton Berle sold for $574,500 and a silver tape measure sold for $48,875.
This year’s sale includes items from the Kennedy and Onassis homes in New York City; Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; Martha’s Vineyard; Peapack, New Jersey; and Middleburg, Virginia, as well as furniture from the private family quarters of the White House.
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An 11th-century Khmer sandstone sculpture carries a presale estimate of $40,000 (£31,338) to $60,000 (£47,007). Among the other pieces is a 1910-1911 oil painting by Augustus John estimated at $20,000 (£15,669) to $30,000 (£23,504) and a 1968 portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy with her children, estimated at $8,000 (£6,268) to $12,000 (£9,401.44).
The auction features many pieces of jewellery, such as two diamond and sapphire brooches and a string of simple amber beads, as well as sofas, dishes and chairs and a Louis Vuitton suitcase ($100-200). Some of the rocking chairs that President John F. Kennedy preferred because of his bad back will be on sale.
Many items would be worthless had they not belonged to the Kennedys. There are stacks of magazines such as House and Garden, some bearing scribbles and annotations. There is a coffee pot, with a broken spout, and a set of folding beach chairs.
“These were their weekend homes, where they relaxed,” said Chapin Carson, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s.
The property is being sold by Caroline Kennedy, who wrote in an introduction to the auction catalogue that she has given everything of historical significance to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and kept the things that meant the most to her family. She said a portion of the auction proceeds will go to the library foundation and other charities.