Jackie Kennedy’s watch and own painting up for auction

NEW YORK: Jackie Kennedy’s Cartier wristwatch and a painting she did in 1963 are going up for auction in New York next month and could fetch up to $120 000 (R1.6 million), according to Christie’s.

The watch, engraved on the back, was given to the then-US first lady by her brother-inlaw Prince Stanislaw “Stas” Radziwill, and she was photographed many times wearing it, Christie’s said.

The watch will be sold on June 21, along with a simple picture painted by Kennedy to mark a 50-mile hike in Palm Beach in 1963 that Radziwill and other friends of the Kennedys undertook.

Christie’s described the watch, and the accompanying painting which was previously unknown to the public, as “two of the most important historic artifacts to surface in recent years from the golden era of the Kennedy presidency”.

“Together with Jackie’s painting, these two objects capture the spirit of another era, a time where friendship and the ‘can-do’ optimism of the generation seemed to make anything possible,” said John Reardon, international head of Christie’s watch division.

Christie’s said the current owner of the watch wished to remain anonymous, but would donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Most of Kennedy’s personal belongings were auctioned in 1996, following her death in 1994 at age 64. The 1996 auction at Sotheby’s in New York raised some $34m, more than seven times pre-sale expectations. – Reuters