Vial said to hold Reagan blood up for bid

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SAINT PETER PORT, Guernsey, May 22 (UPI) -- Available to the highest bidder is a vial an online auction house says held the blood of U.S. President Ronald Reagan after the 1981 attempt on his life.

The anonymous seller provided an online auction house on the British protectorate of Guernsey with a letter of provenance that claims his mother, a technician at Bio Science Laboratories in Columbia, Md., received permission to take the vial home at the end of the week Reagan was shot, The Washington Post reported Monday. When his parents died, the vial was passed to him.

Potential buyers can bid on the glass tube and a medical form listing Reagan's patient identification number, age, sex, and the hospital's chief cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, the Post reported. Instructions requested the sample's "lead level" be examined.

The seller wrote he contacted officials at the Reagan Library about buying the vial, but they were only interested if it were donated. Similar efforts with federal agencies were met with similar results.

"Pres. Reagan when he was my Commander in Chief when I was in the ARMY from '87-'91," the man wrote, "and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that Pres. Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it."

The auction opened May 9, with a bid of about $2,370.90. As of late Monday, the top offer for "Lot 160 – Ronald Reagan Blood Vial" was $9,910.36.

Bidding ends Thursday.