Lee Harvey Oswald’s Original Coffin Goes on Auction Block

Lee Harvey Oswald, suspected Kennedy assassin, was shot two days after Kennedy was shot in 1963 and was never brought to trial for the murder. Conspiracy theories about Kennedy’s assassination led to the exhumation of Oswald in 1981. Due to extensive water damage of the original casket, Oswald was re-buried in a new casket, and his brother left behind the old casket.

Nate D. Sanders auction house now has possession of the original pine coffin in which Oswald was buried from 1963-1981. It will be auctioned off on December 16, with bids starting at $1,000, and will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Allen Baumgardner, a funeral director that assisted in Oswald’s original embalming.

The auction will also include embalming instruments used on Oswald, his first death certificate, and a section of the car seat in which Kennedy died.

See Lee Harvey Oswald’s Coffin Goes on Auction Block, msnbc.com, Dec. 1, 2010.