JFK’s limo license plates auctioned for $100,000

The license plates that were on President John F. Kennedy’s limousine the day he was assassinated have sold for $100,000.

The plates were sold at a Dallas auction, put on by Hermitage Auctions on Maple Avenue, along with other JFK and miscellaneous political memorabilia, according to WFAA.com.

While the starting bid of the plates was only $40,000, the price quickly rose to $75,000 online before live bidding began. The anonymous winning bid came in person, and was made by a fervent Kennedy collector, said Heritage.

“These are the plates that were on Kennedy's limousine,” Don Ackerman, Heritage consignment director, said. “Sometimes you can't know 100% for sure; in this case, we do know 100% for sure.”

The plates had belonged to Jane Walker, who had kept them in her kitchen junk drawer for years after inheriting them from her father, Willard Hess. Willard Hess had owned the Cincinnati company that originally turned the limousine into a presidential vehicle.

Following the assassination, the license plates were to be discarded, but the elder Hess had asked to keep them as a memento.

“These plates were about to expire, so the FBI agent [overseeing the work] took the plates, installed them on the new car, and threw out the old plates, and Mr. Hess got them out of the garbage,” Ackerman said. “He wanted to keep them as a souvenir for his files. He asked the agent, 'Is it all right if I take these?' The agent said, 'What do you want them for?' He said, 'I'd like to have them for my files.' The guy said, 'Fine. Go ahead and take them.'”

The plates didn’t immediately go out of circulation following the assassination, as they were repainted and used by President Lyndon B. Johnson until 1967.