Description: Authentic JFK Personal Long John Underwear This is one of two pairs of identical Duo-Fold Long John 100% woolen underwear belonging to President John F. Kennedy and sold to well-known memorabilia dealer and collector, Richard Wilson, at the Guernsey's 1998 Kennedy auction, Lot # 254. This is the other pair, the pair with the most wear, showing that he preferred and wore these much more frequently that the other pair. This was listed in Wilson's "Norma's Jeans" mail order catalog and purchased by us in a private sale in 2002. A copy of his original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is included with the sale. The Famous Kennedy Long Johns: Because of the unusual nature of the item, "intimate and personal underwear" of one of our most beloved presidents, it made great great news over the years. The New York Post, in a 1998 article about the forthcoming Kennedy auction, photographed Richard Wilson himself holding up a pair of underwear, attracting a lot of readers. (A copy of this article is included with the sale.) The underwear was described as "a Pair of His Personal Wool Long John Underwear." The pair which was sold by Heritage Auctions a few years later had the "Duofold" label and a second label with the "John F. Kennedy" ID sewn into the collar. This pair had no real signs of wear on them, suggesting that they were a "spare" to ours and probably not worn much at all. The Mystery of the Bloody Long Johns: It was only recently that, during a new photo session that the photographer noticed that the long johns were "dirty, with some blood stains," and suggested we should have then professionally cleaned at a dry cleaners! Not on your life!! When we bought these over two decades ago, we had made a few pictures of the underwear and then had them stored in a secure vauly for nearly twenty years. No one told us about the stains, nor did we notice them. Not until now. To get a better understanding of what we had discovered, we delved into forensics trying to figure out possible circumstances that would produce this injury. Here's what we learned: 1. The locus of the injury was on the lower shin area, just above the ankle. This was where the bleeding began; 2. Further down, we can see a definite although weaker stain, spread out around the upper ankle are. Because the stain here is diluted and covered a wider area, it can be assumed that the blood had dribbled down the leg from the point of injury;3. The area of the secondary stain, being much wider and much diluted compared to the primary, suggests that some attempt had been made to "clean" the area, the fluid used as a cleaning agent (e.g., water, vinigar, etc.) has spread the stain;4. The location of the secondary stain, below the primary injury, indicated that the President was probably standing up, or in an upright or semi-upright position, while he was bleeding;5. Because the primary wound is more pronounced and with more definite boundaries compared with the secondary, it is felt that the President, perhaps in a passionate mode, was not aware of the primary injury, that he migfht have been preoccupied, and only later discovered the secondary blood, which he tried to remove. This is one theory. Historical, Featured In The News: Kennedy's long john's had amazing and well-documented histories long before being auctioned for the first time in 1998, having had many newspaper articles written about them over the years, starting in the 1970's. Our particular pair, bought specifically to be used with the famous dolls of The Great American Doll Company (GADCO), has accumulated a great deal of additional provenance because of what we did with them. One of the first news pieces dealing with the underwear appeared in the June 12, 1979 edition of The National Enquirer. To paraphrase the article, it was only a year after Jackie’s 1953 wedding to JFK that she had gathered together many of her expensive wedding gifts that she didn’t want to keep, nearly 100 pieces, and sold them to a Washington D.C. area dealer in antiques and collectibles. Many of the items, especially the crystal and delicate glassware, were carefully wrapped in two pairs of her soon-to-be famous husband’s old long john woolen underwear. Jackie made no secret of her selling off these treasures, according to Jeannette Traten, the widow of the dealer who bought them. In an interview, she said, “If I were selling my wedding gifts, I’d want it kept a secret – but she didn’t care. She impressed us as being a very cold-blooded type.” But whatever the Tratens' personal feelings were about the purchase, they were happy with it since now, without having to conceal the famous source of the items, they could tell would-be customers that these were from Jacqueline Kennedy herself. This really added provenance and value, assuring the Traten family that they would have good profits from this investment as a guaranteed place in the History books.-----------------------------This Rare and Historic President Kennedy artifact deserves a good home, so we are open to all reasonable offers. If you feel you just have to have it, let us know your price, and you may just become the proud owner of something very unique and valuable, a true "one-of-a-kind" well-used artifact owned and worn by one of America's greatest presidents, JFK! Special Kennedy Sunglasses Offer: Elsewhere on eBay, we are offering Limited Edition Kennedy polarized sunglasses at $595 each. Each pair is individally serialized with a unique serial number and an actual fragment of one of JFK's personal Italian Oxford shirts. This is a rare collector item, made in Greece of the finest Italian Tortoise Shell design acetate. Supplies are limited. If you would like to own one of the few remaining, we will accept offers as low as $295 to readers of this offer. For easy reference, it is eBay item number 296335312987 If you have any questions, please contact me anytime, thanks. Good luck on your bidding.
Price: 1000000 USD
Location: Rancho Mirage, California
End Time: 2024-10-13T04:02:48.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Artist/Band: Elvis Presley
Double-layered Long John Underwear: Duofold Brand circa 1950's. (Now Hanes)
Original/Reproduction: Original
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States