JFK’s Rosary To Be Sold For $1m
A New Hampshire-based Auctions company plans to put some of President John F. Kennedy’s possessions up for sale on October 24 at the Omni Parker House hotel in Boston.
The auction house’s president, Bobby Livingston, says the Rosary beads and crucifix’s starting bid is $10,000, but the rosary could fetch up to $1 million.
Kennedy is the only non-Protestant President the USA has had. He often attended Mass with his special assistant, David F. Powers during campaigns and while in office. He gave the rosary and crucifix to Powers before they were given to the unnamed individual selling them off through RR Auctions.
The rosary includes a sterling silver cross that’s engraved on its reverse side with the name “John F. Kennedy” and has black onyx beads. It also comes with four photos of Kennedy and Powers at St. Edwards Catholic Church in Palm Beach County, Fla. (Dec. 8, 1961) and Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (Aug. 15, 1961; Nov. 1, 1961 and May 31, 1962).
A statement from RR Auction explaining the background of the rosary and crucifix’s style suggests that the Rosary was likely a gift to Kennedy from his wife because of her known penchant for personalizing meaningful pieces that she gave her husband, and with her undeniable eye for the finest modern styles such as the rosary’s.
Part of the proceeds from the auction will be given to the David Powers Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps the The Boys and Girls Club and military families.
Also being auctioned are a golden ring given to Kennedy by his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, that was found on his desk after his assassination; the white 1963 Lincoln Continental used to drive the Kennedys to their flight to Dallas, where the president was assassinated; a pair of emblem-adorned rotary phones from the presidential suite at the Hotel Texas that Kennedy used in his final call; and a 1960s GE video broadcast camera that was originally owned by KTVT Channel 11 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The station recorded Jack Ruby shooting Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in the Dallas Police Station on November 24, 1963.