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American Morning

Reporter Discusses Further Auction of Kennedy Memorabilia

Aired June 18, 2001 - 11:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More memorabilia from the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is going on the auction block. This time, though, you can place your bids on the Web. You may even be able to afford something this time around.

Joining us from Washington is Annie Groer, who writes for the "Home" section of "The Washington Post" on collecting, design, decor and auctions.

Annie, good morning. Good to see you.

ANNIE GROER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Nice to see you.

KAGAN: First, explain to me how this auction is different than the one I remember from a few years ago, where her children were putting up some of their items.

GROER: Well, for starters the quality of the items, if you will, are not so high. This is the memorabilia from her personal secretary of many years, Mary Gallagher, but a lot of it, by Gallagher's own admission, is stuff that Mrs. Kennedy gave her when she was cleaning out. So it was -- I don't want to call it trash, but it was leftover stuff.

So there are some old dresses, old bathing suits, hand-written notes, a couple of tchotchkes. There were a lot of baby gifts that were sent to the White House when John John was born. There is a red maternity dress that Mrs. Kennedy wore when she was pregnant.

KAGAN: I think we have a picture of that red maternity dress. That would be from when she was pregnant with John John?

GROER: Exactly. And then, of course, when he was born, lots of people who were fond of the Kennedys would send baby gifts. So there are booties, bibs, and books and things for sale.

There a couple of high-ticket items that will probably draw a lot of money. There is a rocking chair that was given to the president by the ambassador to the United States from the Dominican Republic. I think the highest-ticket item will probably be a book that actually belonged to another secretary who had worked for then Senator Kennedy, a woman named Lois Aykroyd. It was a first edition of "Profiles in Courage," which was inscribed to Lois and signed by Jack Kennedy. There's not a lot of hand-written presidential material still out there, and this is a whole message, and it's in good condition, and there's an unbroken chain of custody.

KAGAN: How much do you think this will to go for?

GROER: The estimates have been pretty low. The estimate for the entire auction of 150 items has been between $60,000 and $80,000.

KAGAN: Really?

GROER: Yes, but I think it will go higher than that.

KAGAN: Remember, the last time, even the high estimations for that last Jackie O. auction went through the roof.

GROER: It was huge. That auction went made $34 million. Then there was an auction a couple of years later at Guernsey's, 500 lots of Kennedy memorabilia that went for about $7 million -- but again, it was much higher quality stuff, or kinds of things that collectors really wanted.

We'll see, though. There are a lot of people who sort of worship at the shrine of the cult of the Kennedys who may want, perhaps -- there are three credit cards with Mrs. Kennedy's name on it that Mary Gallagher had been given to be her personal shopper. If you want the Washington Shopping Plate or the Pappagallo charge, you could have that for a couple hundred dollars.

I think, since this auction continues until the 25th, that the last couple of hours will bring a bidding frenzy. I think people want this stuff, and there's not much out there.

KAGAN: Since the time of the last auction, there's been the tragic death of John Kennedy Jr.

GROER: Exactly. And you will notice that of all the items in this auction, there's nothing out there that is associated with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the last surviving child. In part, it is said by the action house Mrs. Gallagher knows Caroline and thought that might offend her, or she's very fond of her. I think also Caroline Kennedy is so protective of her own privacy, I think she would have insisted that this stuff be pulled.

KAGAN: By giving her blessing by silence? She's just looking the other way, do you think?

GROER: I think it's discretion. I think she is found of Caroline and thought this would not be an appropriate thing to do.

But there's a lot of other stuff. There are some funny notes handwritten by Mrs. Kennedy. My favorite is one from a dress shop in Palm Beach that says, Dear Mary, don't pay this bill from X, whatever, for a dress that was altered; it was badly altered, and it doesn't fit. Either pay this bill if they can make it fit right, or forget it. So there are some really interesting sort of slices of...

KAGAN: Human touches.

GROER: ... daily life in the White House, and of course, a lot of this stuff Mrs. Gallagher came to acquire after Mrs. Kennedy had to very hastily move out of the White House, following the assassination. So there are crutches that John Kennedy used when he had back trouble. There's a golf bag.

So if people are Kennedy collectors, there may be something there for everyone, or at least people with a lot of money.

KAGAN: We said that this is an online action.

GROER: It's only an online action.

KAGAN: How do you participate? How do you get it?

GROER: You dial up www.sloansauction and you register. There is no live action. You can't go in there and wave your paddle around, but all the merchandised is displayed in the auction house outside of Washington, in the suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, and the stuff is arrayed there.

It's interesting, because when I saw some of the dresses that had belonged to Mrs. Kennedy, they're on manikins, but the manikins, apparently, are larger than she was. She was extremely petite, so they have managed to put the fashions on these manikins, but they're afraid to zip them up. They didn't even want to steam the wrinkles out of them because they're fearful that the fabric may be degraded.

There are a couple of cool little -- if you are a size zero or size two -- cocktail outfits you might want to think about and a couple of hats. Then there's black alligator purse; the clasp has her monogram, JBK: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. If this is the black bag your dreams, that's probably going to go for $1,000 or more, in part because it is alligator, and in part because the provenance is unmistakable.

KAGAN: So the auction is ongoing? You can do it right now?

GROER: Ongoing. It started Friday and goes until the 25th. You can see now, as you dial up the various items, where the prices are at this moment, and I think you can bid in increments of $5 and $10 dollars.

As I say, there's some interesting stuff. There's this funny little bowl, and without being unkind, it looks like dime store china. It's sort of white with flowers on the inside, and apparently, according to Mrs. Gallagher, it was -- Senator Kennedy, when he was in Senate, used to have his lunch delivered every day, from Georgetown. Either Mrs. Kennedy would bring it over or an assistant named Mugsy O'Leary (ph). This was his desert bowl. I suppose if you want Jack Kennedy's porridge bowl, there it is.

KAGAN: We will track the items, the interest, and how much this action makes.

Perhaps we'll have you back, Annie, and we'll see how this makes and what the items go for.

GROER: Don't forget to place your bid.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

Annie Groer with "The Washington Post," thanks for helping us take a look.

GROER: Bye-bye.

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