A million dollars for golf clubs? Par for the course if they belonged to President Kennedy and Sotheby's sold them.
A set of woods - $772,500 - and a set of irons - $387,500 - topped the sky-high price list Thursday on the third day of the auction house's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate sale.Earlier, a triple strand of fake pearls that might go for $65 at Macy's sold for $211,500 for the simple reason that a laughing Jacqueline Kennedy was once photographed with her toddler son playfully tugging at the necklace.
It was just another Camelot-crazed sale where items were bought at prices many times their estimated worth. Bids came from all over: Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens phoned in during a game in Boston in an unsuccessful attempt to buy the clubs.
The running total after the third day of the four-day auction was $28,311,666. Sotheby's conservative estimate for the entire auction had been $3.3 million to $4.6 million.
The sale concludes today, when the last thing on the block will be a 1992 BMW sedan.
On Wednesday, the spotlight was on Onassis glitz as a bidder - later identified as J.F. O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of H.J. Heinz Co. - paid $2.59 million for a 40-carat diamond ring given by Aristotle Onassis to his bride.
On Thursday night, the attention turned to the golf clubs and three of Mrs. Onassis' hunting saddles.
An anonymous client bidding over the telephone paid $772,500 for a set of MacGregor woods, and an anonymous bidder in the room paid $387,500 for a set of Ben Hogan Power Thrust irons. Each set was in a golf bag inscribed "JFK Washington, D.C."
Two individual putters sold for $65,750 and $63,000 each.
Sotheby's presale estimate was $700 to $900 for the irons, the same for the woods and $200 to $300 each for the putters.
Clemens, an avid golfer and fan of the late president, wasn't scheduled to pitch Thursday and got permission to call in from the team doctor's office. His top bid reached $121,000, far short of the winning bids.
"My pulse was racing," Clemens said. "They told me there were 11 guys left and then it just went like Dorothy's house falling out of the sky."