On November 25, 1963 in Washington DC representatives from more than 90 countries came to President John F. Kennedy's funeral. Millions watched it on tv.
In Forth Worth, Texas Lee Harvey Oswald's body was laid in a simple, pine coffin.
A fierce legal battle erupted between Marina, Oswald's wife, and Robert, his brother. People didn't believe Oswald was really the one who was buried in that pine coffin.
On a crisp autumn day in October 1981, the coffin was dug up and Oswald's body pulled from it. Tests were run to determine if it was, indeed, really Oswald's.
Water had seemed into the burial vault and damaged the coffin. Oswald's body was reported to be covered in a "most of mold". (Note: I urge others not to read the medical autopsy report as I mistakenly did out of curiosity while eating lunch.)
One of the funeral directors who participated in the autopsy swapped the old coffin for a new one and kept it in storage. Then he decided to put it up for auction in December 2010.
Bidding opened at $1,000 at an auction house in Santa Monica, California. And soon escalated. It finally closed two hours after deadline to an anonymous bidder for over $87,000.
The coffin originally cost $300.
Oswald's brother tried to stop the auction. He wasn't aware of the auction and felt the coffin should have been destroyed in 1981. He was the one who originally paid for the coffin.