This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/23/2023
John F. Kennedy Blood-Stained Leather Swatch from Dallas Limo. CAG Encapsulated.
Swatch, 0.625" x 0.5", Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. A swatch of blood-stained blue leather upholstery removed from JFK's presidential limousine after he was assassinated. Encapsulated by CAG, measuring 2.375'' x 3.375''.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy traveled through downtown Dallas in the presidential limousine, a modified, royal blue 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible. Given Secret Service code name SS-100-X, the limousine had been lengthened, reinforced, and fitted with special handles and foot rails for Secret Service agents. It also featured a bespoke dark and light blue leather upholstered interior manufactured by Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, Ohio. This leather fragment came from the blood-stained rear seat. Following the crime scene investigation, SS-100-X was cleaned and rebuilt from the ground up with special features, like armored plating, bullet-proof windows, and flat-proof tire rims. Lyndon B. Johnson traveled in this modified limousine until 1967. An incredible and tragic relic from the assassination of the 35th president, John F. Kennedy.
All of the privately held upholstery sections from the Kennedy assassination limo seem to have come through well-known presidential artifacts collector Raleigh De Geer Amyx. In 1983, Amyx obtained Letters of Authentication from F. Vaughn Ferguson, White House Technical Service Representative in charge of the presidential limousine, who assisted the White House upholsterer in removing the leather from the rear seat four days after the assassination and supervised its refurbishing for Lyndon Johnson.
A similar Kennedy swatch, encapsulated by CAG sold for $17,500 in our January 2022 auction.
Authentication: CAG Encapsulated and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.