Bids push the coffin of JFK's killer Lee Harvey Oswald to tens of thousands

Just a week after the anniversary of JFK's assassination, this sale isn't for the faint of heart...

We've reported on some gruesome sales at Paul Fraser Collectibles, including the attempted auctioning of Elvis Presley's autopsy and embalming tools. Thankfully, those items were later withdrawn from sale.

But, on December 16, an item at a similar level of gruesomeness is being sold by Nate D Sanders Auctions of Santa Monica: the coffin of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man believed to have assassinated President John F Kennedy in 1963.

Bidding for the coffin has up to tens of thousands since opening at $1,000, last Tuesday. Bids are apparently being taken by phone and online. The seller is Allen Baumgardner, owner of Baumgardner Funeral Home in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oswald was buried in the box for 18 years following his death at the hands of Jack Ruby later in 1963. His body was later dug up in 1981 to disprove theories that Oswald's body wasn't in the coffin (dental records proved that it was in fact his corpse).

Oswald in his coffin (above) and the pine box as it looks today

Lee Harvey's Oswald's body was later relocated to another cemetery in Fort Worth. According to reports, the brown pine box still has its rusted metal ornamentation intact.

Earlier this month - coinciding with the anniversary of JFK's assassination - we reported on how the mysteries surrounding JFK's life and death fuel today's collectibles markets.

Other Oswald sales on the market include the Checker Marathon Dallas Taxi Cab which is "believed to have been" hailed by Lee Harvey Oswald following his assassination of President John F Kennedy.

The cab spurred lively bidding at RM Auctions in June of this year, rolling past its pre-sale estimate to $35,750.

A cab possibly hailed by Lee Harvey Oswald, later sold for $35,750

And fascination among buyers doesn't only extend to JFK's killer, but also his killer's killer, Jack Leon Rubenstein - aka Jack Ruby. To this day, mystery surrounds Ruby's motives for killing Oswald, with many historians suggesting that Ruby was at the centre of a mafia or police plot.

When the fedora hat worn by Ruby as he shot Oswald auctioned earlier this year, this intrigue undoubtedly helped push bids to a final $54,000.

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Images: Nate D Sanders Auctions