Bidding for Camelot Memories Sluggish

Camelot took a beating at a sparsely attended, controversial auction of Kennedy memorabilia Wednesday as many items failed to meet the prices predicted in the catalog by Guernsey’s, a small Manhattan auction house.

There was one major exception. To the surprise even of its owners, who would have accepted less, the 88-ton presidential motor yacht Honey Fitz, named for John F. Kennedy’s maternal grandfather, sold for $5.9 million to an unidentified telephone bidder.

The yacht was a last-minute entry, and its sale brought a late burst of excitement in what had been a discouraging day.

Moments later, another unidentified bidder purchased President Kennedy’s black alligator briefcase for $700,000, an offer $100,000 below what the seller really wanted.

“It didn’t happen to go up as much as it should have because of all the controversy,” said Jacquelyn White, whose husband, Robert, was the biggest consigner of merchandise for the auction.

The gold Cartier wristwatch Kennedy wore the day he was assassinated failed to find a purchaser when bidding stalled at $750,000, which was $100,000 below the timepiece’s minimum price.

Kennedy’s sailboat Flash II ran aground on the shoals of low bidding, withdrawn from sale when interest among prospective buyers ended at $800,000, one third of the hoped-for price.

The president’s rocking chair fetched only $20,000 compared to the $453,000 one of his rockers brought at a Sotheby’s auction two years ago. A rose from JFK’s 44th birthday cake wilted at $550 versus the $29,900 recently paid for a mummified morsel of the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor’s wedding cake.

Nonetheless, the president’s pocket comb sold for $1,100, his shoe horn for $1,800 and a set of his cuff links for $10,000. Bidding on some photographs was brisk and above estimates. One line of Kennedy’s inauguration speech scrawled on a yellow page of legal paper brought $40,250 against a pre-sale estimate of $6,000.

But the tone of the auction was set not only by the attendance--perhaps 150 people at the opening session in a vast Park Avenue armory designed to seat many hundreds--but by the price of the first item, a wide-angle color photograph of President Kennedy delivering the State of the Union address.

The winning offer was $600, against a pre-sale estimate of $1,600.

Robert L. White, a Maryland collector who contributed most of the merchandise after it was willed to him by Kennedy’s secretary, Evelyn N. Lincoln (who died in 1995), tried to put a cheerful face on the auction, which he hoped would bring his family financial security.

“I’m just glad some things are going low enough that regular people can afford them,” White said. “Evelyn would have loved that.”

Before the sale began, Kennedy’s two children vehemently objected to the auction, charging that Lincoln had taken items from the White House. The allegation was strongly denied by both Guernsey’s and White.

The National Archives also took possession of 21 items of major historical significance that were slated for the sale--including a congratulatory telegram Lyndon B. Johnson sent when Kennedy won the Democratic nomination and a small mahogany drop leaf table the president used to sign documents in the Oval Office.

At the same time, the children of the slain president sought other items, including a personal diary, which they received, and their father’s black alligator briefcase, which remained in the auction.

“Mrs. Lincoln never owned the vast majority of items that Mr. White received from her and neither he nor Guernsey’s has any right to sell them,” Caroline Schlossberg and John F. Kennedy Jr. charged in a statement. “They once belonged to our father. They now belong to our family, to history and to the American people.”

The statement carried a thinly veiled warning to potential buyers that the president’s children might try to press their claims to certain items in court .

The two children were the principal beneficiaries of the Sotheby’s sale of items from their mother’s estate two years ago, in which 5,000 lots were sold for $34.4 million.

Bidders in the audience Wednesday said a combination of factors contributed to the disappointing prices: Questions raised in the press about the authenticity of some items, the displeasure of the president’s children at the sale and the absence of the high-powered marketing machines that are the hallmark of auctions by Sotheby’s and its archrival, Christie’s.

“I think people were scared away by all the controversy,” said Margo Newman of Los Angeles.

“There wasn’t anyone here to start with,” said Frank Harvey of Houston.

Auctioneers had hoped Kennedy’s 22-foot sailboat would bring big profits. Six pages of the catalog were filled with pictures of the vessel. The boat stood in all its splendor on the armory floor.

But when bidding stopped at $800,000, its owners withdrew it from the auction. They had dreamed of getting perhaps $2.8 million, said Ann Kleinrichert, one of the owners. “We came hoping a museum or a historical society would take it,” she said.

Another choice item, a sterling silver paperweight marking the dates of the Cuban missile crisis, also was withdrawn when bidding was anemic. Its owners had hoped it would bring at least $300,000.

One of Kennedy’s suits--a charcoal and brown three-button model--sold for $5,000 after a pre-sale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

Kerry McCarthy, whose mother was a first cousin to Kennedy, watched with anxiety. Several items she owns, including a portrait of the Kennedy children, are scheduled to be sold today.

“I’m trying to stay calm,” she said. “I just hope people care for these items.”

Arlan Ettinger, Guernsey’s president, said Kennedy knew his secretary was a collector.

“She had an undying respect for the president and would joke with the president when he was attempting to throw something out,” Guernsey’s chief executive said. “She would say, ‘Don’t do that, Mr. President. This should be preserved.’ He would just laugh.”

“There is a well-known story that the president and Evelyn Lincoln and three or four others were standing around talking after the inauguration,” Ettinger said, “and someone said to the president, ‘Mr. President, did you hear that an inauguration speech by some former president was just sold for $75,000 to a collector. What are you going to do with yours?’ ”

Ettinger said that Kennedy laughed for a moment and handed the speech to Lincoln.

“You like to collect all my old junk. Here, you take it,” Ettinger said Kennedy told his secretary. “You keep the $75,000.”

What has it been like assembling the Kennedy collection and dealing with all the controversy?

“I have aged five years in these last three months,” Ettinger said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Up for Sale

At an auction in New York of John F. Kennedy’s personal items, some sold for the asking price, while others were off the mark.

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Sold for Estimated worth Inauguration speech draft $39,000 $4,000-$6,000 Bronze JFK bust $20,700 $75,000 Shoe horn $1,800 $800 Pocket comb $1,100 $500 Rose from wedding cake $550 $400-$500 Rocking chair $20,000 $20,000-$30,000 American Irish Historical $900 $4,000-$6,000 Society membership card Sailboat Didn’t make $2.8 million minimum bid

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Sources: Times staff, wire reports

Researched by JULIE SHEER / Los Angeles Times