License plates on limo JFK in when killed sell for $100K

In this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, seen through the foreground convertible’s windshield, President John F. Kennedy’s hand reaches toward his head within seconds of being fatally shot as first lady Jacqueline Kennedy holds his forearm as the motorcade proceeds along Elm Street past the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. The license plates on the vehicle (inset), which were discarded when the vehicle was sent for upgrades, fetched $100,000 at auction. AP

DALLAS, United States — The license plates that were on the limousine carrying President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas have sold at auction for $100,000.

Noah Fleisher with Heritage Auctions says the plates sold Saturday for well over the initial bid of $40,000. Fleisher says they were purchased by a “high-end Kennedy collector” who requested anonymity.

Heritage says that after the 1963 assassination, the limousine was sent for upgrades to a Cincinnati company that retrofitted presidential limousines. When a new set of plates arrived, the old plates were discarded. But the company’s owner retrieved them from the trash.

The owner, Willard Hess, kept the plates between books on his bookshelf. His daughter, who later kept them in a drawer in her Ohio kitchen, offered them for auction.