ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: CATHERINE CROCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
IT'S NOT THE ITEMS, but their association with the Camelot era in the White House.
The desk on which President Kennedy signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 was sold for $1.43 million Wednesday on the second day of a frenzied auction of the belongings of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The Louis XVI mahogany table, estimated at $30,000 by Sotheby's auction house, was the subject of a 10-minute duel between two telephone bidders before the hammer went down to the cheers of those in the sales room.
The buyer was identified only as a European foundation.
``This may be the longest it's taken to ever sell a piece of furniture,'' said the auctioneer, Sotheby's President Diana Brooks. ``I just had the chills selling it. It was selling history. There will never be another moment like that.''
Legions of fans packed the auction house to bid on worn sofas, salt shakers and jewelry. The most expensive item in the catalog, a diamond engagement ring valued at $600,000 that was a gift from Aristotle Onassis, was scheduled to be sold Wednesday night.
``This is the last opportunity people have to be a part of her life,'' said Larry Richmond, a Boston dealer. ``You take Jackie's name out of this, and it's like any antique auction.''
Winning bids were about 10 and 20 times the presale estimates. The treaty desk went for 48 times its estimate.
Sotheby's based the estimates on the intrinsic value of the objects - few of which are antiques or unusual works of art - rather than on who owned them.
A French grammar book valued at $500 to $800 with ``Jacqueline Bouvier'' hand-printed on the cover and her schoolgirl doodles of fashionable ladies sketched inside sold for $42,500.
A plain slipcovered sofa sold for $32,200, more than 20 times the presale estimate of $1,500. The cheapest item in the catalog, a reproduction of an etching of Washington, D.C., valued at $20 to $30, went for $2,070.
Also up for sale Wednesday was a Tiffany gold key pendant engraved with ``109'' and given to President Kennedy by an organization of PT boat veterans. Kennedy commanded PT 109 in the Pacific during World War II, and survived an attack by the Japanese.
The total take for Tuesday was $4.5 million, more than eight times the presale estimate. Wednesday morning's session total was $2 million, 20 times the presale estimate.
``They are market prices - what people are willing to pay,'' said Andrew Benerofe, who owns a suburban real estate company and paid $61,900 for a book valued at $2,500. The book was inscribed to Onassis by its author, Israeli founding father David Ben-Gurion.
Maureen O'Connor, the former mayor of San Diego, snared enough salt-and-pepper shakers to serve as Christmas presents for each of her 13 siblings. The shakers were valued at several hundred dollars; she paid $11,500. ``I grew up under Camelot and my family is a big Democratic family in California, and we feel strongly about the Kennedys,'' she said.
The prices include Sotheby's commission, which is 15 percent of the first $50,000 and 10 percent of anything above that amount.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Ben Doller of Sotheby's auction house takes a bid onby CNBa hide-covered rocking horse. It eventually sold for $75,000.
Graphic: Chart by staff: Bidding on Camelot.