Vial of Reagan blood donated to foundation

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SAINT PETER PORT, Guernsey, May 24 (UPI) -- A vial purportedly containing the blood of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was pulled from auction and will be donated to his foundation, officials said.

An anonymous seller put the vial of dried blood with a letter of provenance up for sale on an online auction house on the British protectorate of Guernsey May 9, but removed it Thursday after bidding topped $30,000, CNN reported.

The executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, John Heubusch, had threatened legal action against the seller and PFC Auctions, calling it a "craven act."

"We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC auctions for their assistance in this matter," Heubusch said in a statement after the seller agreed to donate the item to the foundation, located in Simi Valley, Calif.

The seller said in a statement through PFC Auctions he "would personally be delighted to see this important artifact put on public display by the foundation."

The seller said he bought the vial at a public auction in the United States in February for $3,550, CNN reported.

The original seller provided 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 in 1981, The Washington Post reported Monday. When his parents died, the vial was passed to him.