Kennedy memorabilia on the block
An eclectic array of memorabilia from the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, including a speedboat, will be offered at auction alongside a slice of Cold War espionage intrigue.
The auction by Guernsey’s on Saturday in New York City will feature Kennedy’s restored 17-foot mahogany speedboat, which comes complete with an unusual name and a fun family story.
Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a boat named “Tenovus” — a creatively spelled reference to the number of Kennedy family members at the time: “10 of us.”
Later, when he won the speedboat in a church raffle, it got the name “Restofus” — a nod to the “rest of us” in the expanding family. That became JFK’s personal boat. After the 35th president of the U.S. died, the boat went to his brother, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and then to other owners. Its presale estimate is $100,000 US to $150,000.
Other nautically themed offerings include a porcelain demitasse cup and saucer, trimmed with 24-karat gold, from the presidential yacht USS Honey Fitz (estimate $800 to $1,200). There’s also a pair of Kennedy’s brick-red linen swimming trunks ($3,000 to $4,000); and the first lady’s teal one-piece swimsuit ($4,000 to $6,000).
The wide array of Camelot-lots — more than 500 — includes documents, photos, stationery, even inscribed sterling silver baby toothbrushes.
There are numerous consignors. The core of the sale comes from the collections of Lt. Henry Hirschy, who worked at the White House; Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal secretary, Mary Gallagher; and CIA operative Francis Gary Powers, whose story was the basis for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies.
Powers, a pilot for the CIA’s U-2 program, was arrested after his spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace in 1960.
The collection includes his orange flight suit ($10,000 to $15,000), worn in numerous U-2 test missions, along with an undershirt and brown lace-up boots.
And, yes, spies did really wear trench coats back in the day: In Powers’ case, one black and one tan, estimated at $2,500 to $3,500 apiece.
They also had to answer the call of nature, as with everybody else — resulting in a very quirky lot. Described by auctioneers as a “historic and straightforward piece of equipment,” the plastic and metal “containment vessel” allowed Powers to relieve himself during long flights. It has a presale estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.