John F. Kennedy's Bomber Jacket Goes For $570K At Auction

The John F. Kennedy memorabilia sold at an auction in Amesbury, Mass., fetched nearly $2 million on Sunday.

Held at John McInnis Auctioneers in Amesbury, the auction’s collection contained photographs, documents and gifts that had long been in the possession of the late David Powers. Powers had served as an aide and close friend to Kennedy throughout his political career. The mementos of the assassinated 35th president’s life were discovered in Powers’s home in Arlington, Mass. when the family was preparing the residence for sale.

Included in the items was a birthday card from JFK’s son, which was sold for $17,000. Also selling for $17,000 was a seal that hung above Power’s desk in the West Wing. A flag that had flown on Kennedy’s motorcade limousine fetched $55,000. One of the highest bidding items was Kennedy’s Air Force One bomber jacket. The gift from the late president to Powers went for an astounding $570,000 – over $500,000 more than had been anticipated.

The auction, which yielded almost $2 million, nearly doubled the profit expected by auction appraiser Dan Meader. Everything, from a detailed schedule that documented the last two days of Kennedy’s life in Texas to a pen Kennedy used to sign an order during the Cuban missile crisis, exceeded expectations. Some items even sold for 20 times their estimated asking price in the auction, which ran from Feb. 9 to Monday at 5 a.m.

A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the JFK Library and Museum in Boston.