NEW YORK, April 26 -- The glitzy garage sale of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's estate ended Friday with Sotheby's cash registers totaling $34.5 million in sales. The final item was Kennedy's 1992 green BMW 325i four-door sedan which was valued at $18,000-$22,000. With many items bring 30 times and more of their estimated price, speculators were bantering figures around $1 million for the car. It went for a mere $70,000. But an oak rocking chair that sold just before the car, and had a pre-sale estimate of $3,000 to $5,000, went for $453,500. Kennedy had a bad back and often used a rocker. Two were sold at this auction. The rocker had the fifth highest sale price for a single item in the four-day nine-session auction. Top price went for the 40-karat Lesotho diamond engagement ring which H.J. Heinz Co. chairman Tony O'Reilly picked up for his wife Chrysanthie at $2.59 million. The diamond was commissioned by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis as an engagement present for Jackie. The new wearer is the heiress to another Greek shipping fortune, the Goulandris fortune. Diana Brooks, president and chief executive officer of Sotheby's said the wildcat bidding in the auction reflected the awe and respect Jackie Onassis still commands. 'It is her grace and style, her dignity, her courage that are behind the results of his past week. 'People have bid and bought at this auction because she and President Kennedy have touched our lives in a profound and moving way,' Brooks said.
Second highest price was $1.3 million paid for the antique French desk where President Kennedy signed the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. On Thursday, bidders paid $1.3 million to grab Kennedy's old golf putters, irons and woods. The presidential MacGregor woods and red and black golf bag were bought by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger for $772,500, the sale's third highest price. He also bought a Norman Rockwell portrait of JFK for $134,500 and a leather desk set emblazoned 'JFK' for $189,500. Ben Hogan Power Thrust Irons went for a tidy $387,500, and two putters went for more than $60,000 a piece. Kennedy's stroke counter, which Sotheby's probably would have sold for a mere $50 in any other sale, sold for $28,750. The fourth highest price was set on the first day when a walnut cigar humidor presented to the president by comedian Milton Berle in 1961 went for $574,500. It had been valued at $2,00 to $2,500. On Thursday Onassis' favorite three-strand simulated pearl necklace, which had a pre-sale estimate of $500 to $700, was snapped up for $211, 500 by the Franklin Mint of suburban Philadelphia, which plans to put it on display at its museum and, perhaps, sell replicas. Brooks said the price might be a record for any piece of costume jewelry ever sold at auction. The last day of the sale had many paintings, prints, books and miscellaneous furniture, even an old magazine cover cut from the March 1979 issue of Ms. magazine showing Onassis posed with the magazine's founder, Gloria Steinem. It was estimated to bring $600 and was knocked down for $40,250. Brooks said altogether there were 566 buyers, 518 of them Americans seeking to own a memento of one of the nation's most charismatic women. Bids came from 19 countries. The top lot in the morning sale was a book titled 'Presidents of the United States,' which contained all the inaugural addresses of the presidents up to John F. Kennedy. It was sold to a private collector for $123,500, an incredible sum in view of its $3,000 to $5,000 pre-sale evaluation. The cheapest item in the auction was a six-volume set of Middle East history. It sold for $1,250. The auction house sold 104,611 catalogues at $90 for hard-cover and $45 for paperback. The $2.5 million in proceeds will be split between a dozen charities. Most will go to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Other beneficiaries include the White House Historical Association which was a disappointed bidder at the auction, the American Ballet Theater and even he Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School.
