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11/23/2024 11:44:17 pm

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JKF Wedding Negatives and Photos Sold for $34K at Boston Auction

JFK Wedding

(Photo : Frank Ataman)

Negatives of photos from the wedding of former President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in Newport, Rhode Island were sold online for $34,073 at an e-Bay-style auction on Wednesday.

Thirteen original negatives of photos reportedly taken by freelance photographer Frank Ataman of Fall River, Massachusetts during the fairytale wedding of the Kennedys have been sold to a doctor who claimed anonymity at RR Auction house in Boston.

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The photos, which were taken on Sept. 12, 1953, documented the Kennedys' church wedding held at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island.

Bids for the photo negatives, which were believed to have never been published, began at $200 during an online auction that started on Sept. 26.

Described as a high society affair, the former president's wedding received some 700 to 1,200 guests and was covered by Life magazine.

The negatives included four showing the couple, two of the entire wedding party, and seven showcasing guests, the reception, and the wedding ceremony itself.

The memorabilia included all 13 original negatives, as well as 5 by 4 printouts of the black-and-white photos.

One of the photos shows the family dog peeking out of the bride's billowing white wedding gown while another captured JFK during the ceremonial slicing of the wedding cake.

"These things have an intense public interest. Because it's the Kennedys, there's a passion for collecting these and a passion for the memories," RR Auction Vice President Bobby Livingston said in a statement, adding that the 'Baby Boomer' generation becomes increasingly interested in similar memorabilia as they enter the age of retirement and have more disposable income.

Other Kennedy commemorative items sold during the auction included a White House holiday card signed by JFK and his wife a few days before he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. It was sold for $19,500.

The RR Auction house also sold memorabilia during the World War II era in September, which included letters from Kennedy to the family of a lost PT-109 crewmate. The items were bought for $200,000.

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