Just in time to coincide with the 57th quadrennial United State Presidential election, a massive single-owner private collection of White House Presidential, First Lady and First Family mementos, memorabilia and gifts, acquired by a man who worked at the White House as a carpenter – goes under the hammer at Great Gatsby’s Auction Gallery in Atlanta, on October 12th, 2012.
“Even if it wasn’t a presidential election year, this collection would still attract enormous attention, it’s quite literally a historical timeline of 20th century White House history,” commented the auction house’s Marie Kowalik.
Mr. Bonner Arrington has worked at the official residence for a total of 33 years, from President Harry Truman through the Ronald Reagan Administrations, as well as his wife Alphadine (“Deanie”), who also worked at the White House from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. During his time there, Mr Arrington had unique and direct access to the public and private rooms of the White House, and was a part of all the day-to-day maintenance and special events, so no wonder why he had a lot of mementos starting from the period when he came there as a poor boy from Covington, Va.
Highlights of the sale include some piece of furniture, such as: a hand-crafted and hand-carved solid mahogany replica of the Resolute Desk that sits in the Oval Office, which has been made to the exact specifications of the original, a rocking chair from the Roosevelt administration, with the underside bearing a plaque that reads: “Executive Mansion, Theodore Roosevelt”. Also single out: President Trumans inauguration invitation from 1949; official White House photos of President and Mrs. Kennedy (inscribed by JFK and signed by both); promotional packet created by the Ford Motor Company with photos and information on the Presidential limousine – the same limousine in which President Kennedy was assassinated.
Other notable pieces are: original signed photos of President Harry Truman and First Lady Bess Truman; original signed photo of President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush; photo portrait of Mamie Eisenhower signed by famed fashion and portrait photographer Louise Dahl Wolfe; personal note handwritten and signed by Mamie Eisenhower; monogrammed diaper pin belonging to “John John” John F. Kennedy Jr.; pens, tie clips and golf balls with the Presidential seal created for each White House Administration; mementos from The White House weddings of Tricia Nixon and Lynda Johnson.
