Jackie Kennedy’s Cartier wristwatch and a painting she made in 1963 as a gift to the giver are going up for auction in New York next month and could fetch up to $120,000, Christie’s said on Thursday.
The Cartier tank watch, engraved on the back, was given to the then-U.S. first lady by her brother-in-law Prince Stanislaw “Stas” Radziwill, and she was photographed many times wearing it, Christie’s said in a statement.
The watch will be sold on June 21, along with a simple picture painted by Kennedy to mark a 50-mile hike in Palm Beach in 1963 that Radziwill and other friends of the Kennedys undertook to promote fitness.
Christie’s described the watch, and the accompanying painting which was previously unknown to the public, as “two of the most important historic artifacts to surface in recent years from the golden era of the Kennedy Presidency.”
“Together with Jackie’s painting, these two objects capture the spirit of another era, a time where friendship and the ‘can-do’ optimism of the generation seemed to make anything possible,” said John Reardon, international head of Christie’s watch division.
Christie’s said the current owner of the watch wished to remain anonymous but would donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the National Endowment for the Arts.
Most of Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal belongings were auctioned in 1996, following her death of cancer in 1994 at age 64. The 1996 auction at Sotheby’s in New York raised some $34 million, more than seven times pre-sale expectations.
