For Love AND Money: JFK Love Letters Sell at Auction
Letters to Swedish mistress go for six figures
Emotions still run high over death of JFK
What's the price of love? If you're a West Coast bidder, it's $115,500.
That's how much a batch of love letters, written by Senator John F. Kennedy, went for at a Lansing auction house on Wednesday night.
"We had estimated $40,000 to $50,000," Doug Allen, president of Legendary Auctions said. "We were very pleased to get six figures."
The 11 handwritten letters and three telegrams narrate the illicit relationship between the not-yet president and Swedish mistress Gunilla Von Post.
Von Post, in her 1997 book Love, Jack, wrote about her affair with the infamously charming Kennedy. They met on the French Riviera just a month before he married Jacqueline Bouvier (Kennedy Onassis), but Kennedy's relationship with Von Post continued for at least 2 years, said Von Post.
The letters brought in much more money than expected.
The West Coast collector has chosen to remain anonymous.
Don't go blowing the dust off those shoeboxes in the closet just yet though. Somehow, we doubt your 3rd-grade Valentines will rake in the same dough.
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations / NBC Chicago
Posted Thursday, Mar 4, 2010 - 1:46 PM CST
