JFK's Famous Well-Worn Personal Long Johns w/COA - One of a Kind -Very Rare

Description

Authentic JFK
Personal Long John Underwear
This is one of two pairs of identical Duo-Fold Long John 100% woolen underwear belonging to President John F. Kennedy and sold to well-known memorabilia dealer and collector, Richard Wilson,  at the Guernsey's 1998 Kennedy auction, Lot # 254.
This is the other pair, the pair with the most wear, showing that he preferred and wore these much more frequently that the other pair. This was listed in Wilson's "Norma's Jeans" mail order catalog and purchased by us in a private sale in 2002. A copy of his original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is included with the sale.
The Famous Kennedy Long Johns
: Because of the unusual nature of the item, "
intimate and personal underwear
" of one of our most beloved presidents, it made great great news over the years. The New York Post, in a 1998 article about the forthcoming Kennedy auction, photographed Richard Wilson himself holding up a pair of underwear, attracting a lot of readers. (A copy of this article is included with the sale.)
The underwear was described as "a Pair of His Personal Wool Long John Underwear.
"  The pair which was later sold by Heritage Auctions a few years later had the "Duofold" label and a second label with the "John F. Kennedy" ID sewn into the collar. This pair had no real signs of wear on them, suggesting that they were a "spare" to ours and probably not worn much.
Historical, Featured In The News:
Kennedy's long john's
had amazing and well-documented histories long before being auctioned for the first time in 1998, having had many newspaper articles written about them over the years, starting in the 1970's. Our particular pair, bought specifically to be used with the famous dolls of The Great American Doll Company (GADCO),  has accumulated a great deal of additional provenance because of what we did with them.
One of the first news pieces dealing with the underwear appeared in the June 12, 1979 edition of The National Enquirer.  To paraphrase the article, i
t was only a year after Jackie’s 1953 wedding to JFK that she had gathered together many of her expensive wedding gifts that she didn’t want to keep, nearly 100 pieces, and sold them to a Washington D.C. area dealer in antiques and collectibles.
Many of the items, especially the crystal and delicate glassware, were carefully wrapped in two pairs of her soon-to-be famous husband’s old long john woolen underwear.
Jackie made no secret of her selling off these treasures, according to Jeannette Traten, the widow of the dealer who bought them. In an interview, she said, “
If I were selling my wedding gifts, I’d want it kept a secret – but she didn’t care. She impressed us as being a very cold-blooded type.
”
But whatever the Tratens' personal feelings were about the purchase, they were happy with it since now, without having to conceal the famous source of the items, they could tell would-be customers that these were from Jacqueline Kennedy herself. This really added provenance and value, assuring the Traten family that they would have good profits from this investment.
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This Rare and Historic President Kennedy artifact deserves a good home, so we are open to all reasonable offers. If you feel you just have to have it, let us know your price, and you may just become the proud owner of something very unique and valuable, a true "one-of-a-kind" well-used artifact owned and worn by one of America's greatest presidents, JFK!
If you have any questions, please contact me anytime, thanks. Good luck on your bidding.