• Dealer to auction gun once owned by rogue ex-LAPD cop Christopher Dorner

    By Samantha Tata, NBCLosAngeles.com

    A gun once owned by a rogue former LAPD officer who killed four people before fatally shooting himself after a frenzied manhunt is being auctioned by a southern Nevada pawn gun dealer.

    Julie Jacobson / AP

    George Bramlett, owner of the Bargain Pawn shop in Las Vegas, shows a gun once owned by former LAPD police officer Christopher Dorner on Friday.

    George Bramlett, at Bargain Pawn in North Las Vegas, thinks the .38 Special that Christopher Dorner sold him in January – one month before Dorner's revenge-fueled killing spree began – might fetch a couple of thousand dollars.

    Proceed from the auction, posted on GunBroker.com, likely will be donated to the families of the two law enforcement agents Dorner killed, Bramlett told the Associated Press.

    But administrators handling funds for San Bernardino County Sheriff Deputy Jeremiah MacKay and Riverside police Officer Michael Crain said the officers’ families don't want the money.

    Read more on NBCLosAngeles.com


    President of the Riverside Police Officers’ Association Sgt. Brian Smith called the offer "morbid."

    For six days in February, Dorner was the subject of a massive manhunt after being named the prime suspect in the slaying of a newly engaged couple, one of whom was the daughter of a former LAPD captain.

    In an angry manifesto, Dorner vowed to target law enforcement agents and their families as revenge for being fired from the force.

    He then killed two police officers and injured two others before the search turned to the community around Big Bear Lake, where Dorner’s burned-out truck was found.

    Law enforcement agents combed the mountain community and stepped up security around Los Angeles police officers named in Dorner’s manifesto, until Feb. 12 when the ex-officer shot himself while cornered in a burning cabin.

    By Friday evening, the bidding for a gun Dorner sold before the revenge plot began was close to $500 for a weapon Bramlett said is probably worth $250 to $300.

    A description on the auction page describes Dorner a "coward and murderer," and notes that the shop to which he sold the revolver turned over surveillance video of the exchange to investigators.

    The auction began on April 9 and is scheduled to end April 23.

     

  • JFK's bomber jacket sells for $570,000 at auction

    Newly discovered items for President Kennedy's personal assistant, Dave Powers, went to the highest bidder. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    By Daniel Lovering, Reuters

    CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- President John F. Kennedy's Air Force One bomber jacket sold for $570,000 at an auction on Sunday of items that belonged to a longtime aide, nearly 50 years after the president's assassination.

    The jacket was among thousands of items, including letters, photographs and books, that had been tucked away in drawers and file cabinets at the home of David Powers, who died in 1998, said Dan Meader, auction appraiser at John McInnis Auctioneers.

    Paul Marotta / Getty Images Contributor

    JFK's Air Force One Bomber Jacket, given to his special assistant David Powers and worn by LBJ, which sold for $570,000 at an auction in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

    They were discovered in recent years by relatives as they prepared Powers' Arlington, Massachusetts, residence for sale, Meader said.

    Powers was close to the president throughout his political career, from 1946 until his assassination in 1963.

    He later remained close to the Kennedy family and became curator of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston before retiring in 1994.

    'President's best friend'
    The auction included personal effects that reflected Powers' years of shared history with Kennedy and his family. Among them are dozens of letters from former first lady Jackie Kennedy and books inscribed by the president.

    "The amazing thing about this whole thing is that it shows the personal connection," Meader said. "This is stuff that's true, it's pure, it's right from the family home ... right from the president's best friend."

    Slideshow: Kennedy's legacy

    Henry Burroughs / AP

    John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to serve as U.S. president. Click on the gallery for photos detailing key moments in his campaign for the White House, his brief time in office, and his untimely death.

    Launch slideshow

    The auction began on Sunday morning and continued into the night, with Kennedy's Air Force One leather bomber jacket selling for $570,000 plus a buyer's premium, he said. The jacket was initially expected to fetch $20,000 to $40,000 or more.

    "There's never been an auction like this," Meader said.

    Powers traveled with Kennedy, riding in motorcades, monitoring the reaction of crowds and informing the president of what his constituents wanted, Meader said.

    "He was basically the eyes and ears of the American public," he said. "Dave was the pulse of the nation."

    Related:

    Photos, letters among Kennedy memorabilia to go to auction

    RFK Jr: 'Very convincing' evidence that JFK wasn't killed by lone gunman

    Secret tapes of JFK's last days released

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Wild! Butch Cassidy's gun draws $175,000 auction bid

    AP

    This image provided by RMK Services shows a Colt .45 SAA revolver that belonged to Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, the legendary bank thief, train robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang—the notorious Wyoming-based bandits that stalked the American West throughout the 1890s.

    By Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters

    LOS ANGELES — A gun the Wild West outlaw Butch Cassidy wielded in the late 19th century and later tried to exchange for amnesty has drawn a $175,000 bid at a California auction house, the owner of the company said on Monday. 

    The Colt revolver was turned over to a sheriff in Utah in 1899 as part of Cassidy's failed attempt to obtain amnesty from the state's governor, said John Eubanks of California Auctioneers & Appraisers.

    "He tried to become a regular citizen by turning over his guns," Eubanks said.

    The $175,000 bid for the Colt came over the weekend from a buyer who wants to remain anonymous, Eubanks said.

    Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh, who went by the nickname "Sundance Kid," robbed banks and had an outlaw gang called the Wild Bunch.

    Their exploits were featured in the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

    Cassidy had long been thought to have been killed in a shootout in Bolivia, but his fate remains mysterious as members of his family and former associates have said he returned to the United States and lived under a false identity, according to a web page about the outlaw on a Utah government website.

    The sale of Cassidy's gun was part of an auction of Wild West items that California Auctioneers held on Saturday and Sunday in Casitas Springs, 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

    A beaded jacket that belonged to the American Indian leader Crazy Horse sold for $10,000 in the auction, to a couple from upstate New York, Eubanks said.

    Other pieces of memorabilia from the Wild West have fetched even higher prices. Last year, the only authenticated photograph of gunslinger Billy the Kid was auctioned off to the billionaire William Koch for $2.3 million. 

    More in NBC News Entertainment

     

     

     

  • Vroooom vroom! Ford Motor director’s collection up for auction

    Jim Cole / AP

    A 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Sportsman Convertable is ready for auction along with neon signs.

    Jim Cole / AP

    The hood ornament on the front of a 1934 Ford Deluxe Paaeton which will be auctioned off ths weekend.

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    About 50 vintage cars, many from the 1930s and '40s, and neon signs, and other items from a bygone era are up for auction this weekend. The items are from investor and philanthropist Michael Dingman, the former Ford Motor Co. director. In addition to a rare 1936 Ford custom Cabriolet by Glaser, a 1934 Ford Deluxe Phaeton and a Aston Martin Vantage Volante, is a series of Route 66 signs. The preview for the auction is today in Hampton, N.H.

    More about the auction and Dingman's collection.

    The auction website - RM Auctions, where you can bid or just watch it live.

  • Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood: Auction called off

    AP

    This undated image released by PFCAuctions shows a vial supposedly containing Ronald Reagan's dried blood residue.

    By Jonathan Lloyd, NBCLosAngeles.com

    An auction house announced Thursday that it plans to donate a vial containing dried blood residue said to be from President Ronald Reagan to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation instead of selling the item.


    The vial had been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan's blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981. In a statement, the auction house said "we have negotiated with the consignor to arrange for the item to be withdrawn from the auction and donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a considerable financial gesture from the consignor."

    Bidding for the items on the PFC Auctions website was at $30,086 when the item was pulled, according to the company. The bid deadline was set for Thursday evening.

    Read the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

    After it was removed from the laboratory by someone who worked at the lab, the vial was obtained during a February auction in the United States. The lot description said the vial holds a "sample of President Ronald Reagan’s blood after an assassination attempt in 1981."

    Officials with the Reagan Foundation said they were pleased the vial would be kept "out of  public hands." Earlier this week, the foundation's executive director called the auction a "craven act."

    Reagan's family and his surgeon also criticized the proposed sale.

    First story at NBCWashington.com: Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood up for sale

    "We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter," said John Heubusch, executive director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

    "While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012 were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation Ensuring President Reagan’s blood remains out of public hands."

    Watch US News videos on msnbc.com

    The consignor, a collector of presidential memorabilia who asked to remain anonymous, purchased the vial for $3,550 at the February auction.

    "I just don't think people should profit from it," said Joseph Maddalena, of Profile in History Auction House in LA. "I would never do it. It's kind of poor taste. Selling somebody's blood? It's a little creepy."

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  • Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood up for sale, UK auction house claims

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    If you’ve ever wanted a vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood, now’s your chance -- although this sale is being called unethical.


    A vial supposedly containing the late president’s blood is up for auction on PFCauctions.com, which is based in the United Kingdom. 

    The website claims the blood was taken from Reagan following the assassination attempt against him in 1981.

    See the original report at NBCWashington.com

    The vial is pictured on the website with a label of the president’s name. An included letter from the seller says his late mother worked at the lab that tested the blood for the George Washington University Hospital after Reagan was shot.

    The most recent bid on the site is a little more than $9,900.

    Some are outraged over the auction, calling it unethical.

    "If indeed this story is true, it's a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase," John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said in a statement.

    Dr. Joseph Giordano, who was head of the GW Hospital's trauma team in 1981, said the auction is outrageous.

    Watch US News videos on msnbc.com

    “You don’t go selling people’s specimens or bodily fluids,” said Giordano. “You have no permission to do that. It’s unethical.”

    “Any individual, including a President of the United States, should feel confident that once they enter into the care of a medical system their privacy and rights are held inviolable,” Heubusch said.

    Reuters gives this account of the vial's origin:

    The seller wrote that the vial came from his or her late mother, who took it from her workplace at Maryland-based Bio-Science Laboratories, where blood work and testing were done for George Washington Hospital.

    The seller said he or she had contacted the California-based Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, which is run by the late president's foundation, months ago and had been told that Reagan's family would like to have the vial given to them.

    "I told him that I didn't think that was something that I was going to consider ... and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that President Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it," the statement said.

    A spokeswoman for the foundation declined to comment on the seller's claim to have spoken to the library.

    Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report from Natalie Lopez of NBCWashington.com.

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