President John F. Kennedy/JFK's Underwear w/COA + An Exciting Story for Sale

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President John F. Kennedy/JFK's Underwear w/COA + An Exciting Story For Sale

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President John F. Kennedy/JFK's Underwear w/COA + An Exciting Story:
$1000000.00

Authentic JFK

Personal Long John Underwear

This is one of two pairs of identical Duo-Fold Long John 100% woolen underwear belonging to President John F. Kennedy and sold to well-known memorabilia dealer and collector, Richard Wilson, at the Guernsey's 1998 Kennedy sale, Lot # 254. This is the other pair, the pair with the most wear, showing that he preferred and wore these much more frequently that the other pair. This was listed in Wilson's "Norma's Jeans" mail order catalog and purchased by us in a private sale in 2002. A copy of his original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is included with the sale. The Famous Kennedy Long Johns: Because of the unusual nature of the item, "intimate and personal underwear" of one of our most beloved presidents, it made great great news over the years. The New York Post, in a 1998 article about the forthcoming Kennedy sale, photographed Richard Wilson himself holding up a pair of underwear, attracting a lot of readers. (A copy of this article is included with the sale.) The underwear was described as "a Pair of His Personal Wool Long John Underwear." The pair which was sold by Heritage sales a few years later had the "Duofold" label and a second label with the "John F. Kennedy" ID sewn intothe collar. This pair had no real signs of wear on them, suggesting that they were a "spare" to ours and probably not worn much at all. The Mystery of the Stained Long Johns: It was only recently that, during a new photo session that the photographer noticed that the long johns were dirty, with some stains which looked like blood, suggesting that we should have then professionally cleaned at a dry cleaners.
When we bought these over two decades ago, we had made a few pictures of the underwear and then had them stored in a secure vauly for nearly twenty years. No one told us about the stains, nor did we notice them. Not until now.
To get a better understanding of what we had discovered, we delved into forensics trying to figure out possible circumstances that, if these were truly bloodstains, would kind of injury would cause these patterns. Here's what we learned:
1. The locus of the stains was on the lower shin area, just above the ankle;2. Further down, we can see a definite, although weaker stain, spread out around the upper ankle are. Because the stain here is diluted and covered a wider area, it can be assumed that if this was blood, it might have trickled down the leg from the point of an injury;3. The area of the secondary stain, being much wider and much diluted compared to the primary, suggests that some attempt had been made to clean the area, the fluid used as a cleaning agent (e.g., water, vinegar, etc.) has spread the stain;5. Initially, we believed these were bloodsatins.That was one theory. 6. However, recently, it came to our attention that the stains might not be blood at all, but rust instead, possible remnants of the time when this pair of long johns was used as a wrap-around for leaky pipes beneath a kitchen sink in the thrift shop where Jackie had brought them. That's another theory.To be sure of the stain origins, the question as to whether these are rust or bloodstains will be answered at the time of sale, when we will have them tested, CSI-style. Until then, the mystery remains unsolved.
Historical, Featured In The News: Kennedy's long john's had amazing and well-documented histories long before being saleed for the first time in 1998, having had many newspaper articles written about them over the years, starting in the 1970's. Our particular pair, bought specifically to be used with the famous dolls of The Great American Doll Company (GADCO), has accumulated a great deal of additional provenance because of what we did with them.
One of the first news pieces dealing with the underwear appeared in the June 12, 1979 edition of The National Enquirer. To paraphrase the article, it was only a year after Jackie’s 1953 wedding to JFK that she had gathered together many of her expensive wedding gifts that shedidn’t want to keep, nearly 100 pieces, and sold them to a Washington D.C. area dealer in antiques andcollectibles. Many of the items, especially the crystal and delicate glassware,were carefully wrapped in two pairs of her soon-to-be famous husband’s old longjohn woolen underwear. Jackie made no secret of her selling off these treasures,according to Jeannette Traten, the widow of the dealer who bought them. In an interview, shesaid, “If I were selling my wedding gifts, I’d want it kept a secret – but shedidn’t care. She impressed us as being a very cold-blooded type.” But whateverthe Tratens' personal feelings were about the purchase, they were happy with it sincenow, without having to conceal the famous source of the items, they could tellwould-be customers that these were from Jacqueline Kennedy herself. This reallyadded provenance and value, assuring the Traten family that they would havegood profits from this investment as a guaranteed place in the History books.

This Rare and Historic President Kennedy artifact deserves a good home, so we are open toall reasonable offers. If you feel you just have to have it, let us know your price, and you may just become the proud owner of something very unique and valuable, a true "one-of-a-kind" well-used artifact owned and worn by one of America's greatest presidents, JFK!

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Relic: Elsewhere on , we are offering a genuine nearly 200-year-old Oakwood fragment that has its origins in the famous Lincoln Law Office in Springfioeld, Illinois. This rare collectible piece of United States history is attractively mounted on a serial-numbered Certificate of Authenticity, suitable for displaying in a frame or on a desk. But supplies of this are limited, so act now!If you have any questions, please contact me anytime, thanks. Good luck on your offerding.
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