JFK Kin Joins Bids; Auction Tally $9 Million

This week’s sale of JFK memorabilia made a bidder out of at least one Kennedy and brought in about $9 million, people involved in the auction said Friday.

An immediate member of the family who was not identified bought two diaries and a photo album, said Robert White, whose collection dominated the sale.

The relative bid $27,500 for a 1923 diary written by matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, more than double the suggested price of $10,000-$12,000; $10,000 for another diary, penned by JFK’s late sister, Kathleen Kennedy, against a $7,000-$8,000 presale estimate; and $14,000 for a family photo album, far above the $2,000 minimum.

The final tally for the two-day sale was double the presale estimates, said Allan Burt, White’s business manager.

Among the more than 500 items at the Guernsey’s auction were a presidential rocking chair that fetched $332,500 from an anonymous bidder. The oak chair had a presale estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.

Kennedy’s tortoise-shell sunglasses sold for $46,000, and his mahogany cigar box fetched $40,250.

White received his memorabilia as a bequest from Evelyn N. Lincoln, Kennedy’s longtime personal secretary, who died in 1995.