Astounding collection of presidential memorabilia to be sold by Great Gatsby's in Atlanta, Oct. 12 A massive single-owner private collection of White House Presidential, First Lady and First Family mementos, memorabilia and gifts will be sold at auction Friday, Oct. 12, by Great Gatsby’s in Atlanta
and signed by Mrs. Kennedy, and mementos surrounding the White House funeral of President Kennedy.
Items from the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson include mementos from daughter Lynda Byrd Johnson’s White House wedding, a pair of White House cigarette lighters (both engraved with the Presidential seal and Johnson’s signature), framed and signed White House photographs and a Johnson campaign set of cuff links, tie clips and lapel pins with the slogan “LBJ for the USA.”
From the Nixon years comes a White House photo album embossed with the Presidential seal containing 39 official photographs, a bronze White House key ring and tie clips all with a raised Presidential seal, a White House ashtray etched on the underside with the Presidential seal and Nixon’s signature, mementos from Tricia Nixon’s White House wedding including photographs, wedding invitation, press releases and three pieces of preserved wedding cake each in its original tissue wrapped and embossed presentation box, and an original copy of The Washington Post covering Nixon’s resignation.
Items from the Ford presidency will include three White House gift pens, a pair of White House tie clips, a pair of White House cuff links (each with the raised Presidential seal), a glass dish decorated with the Presidential seal and inscribed “Aboard Air Force One” with Ford’s signature, framed White House photos signed Jerry Ford and Betty Ford, and an original copy of the White House press release announcing President Ford’s pardoning of President Nixon.
The Carter presidency is represented in the sale by White House gifts that give nod to the Carter Family’s peanut farm in south Georgia with pendants in the shape of peanuts. Also included will be a partial carton of Korean cigarettes (four unopened packs), each one imprinted with “Welcome to the Republic of Korea, the President of the United States of America and Mrs. Jimmy Carter,” plus photographs signed by President and Mrs. Carter, and presidential Christmas cards.
Items from the Reagan presidency will include an official White House photograph of President Reagan and Vice President Bush with original autographs, a photo of first Lady Nancy Reagan with an original signature, seven presidential cigars (Ornelas brand, made in Mexico), 10 unused matchbooks, each imprinted “The President’s House”, and one of President Reagan’s oval office Jelly Belly brand jelly bean jars (the brand made famous by The Gipper himself).
Last but not least are three of the most unusual pieces in the sale: a rocking chair from the Roosevelt administration, slated for the trash, the underside with a plaque inscribed: “Executive Mansion, Theodore Roosevelt” (it was President Roosevelt himself who renamed the Executive Mansion the “White House”); a small piece of burned wood post removed from the White House in 1950 during the Truman administration, when President Truman had the entire interior of the then structurally unstable White House gutted for restoration and remodeling (this burned post is believed to have survived the White House fire of 1814 set by British soldiers and carries a bronze plaque that reads, “Original
