Auction of Ronald Reagan blood vial cancelled

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation had expressed outrage over the auction, in which bidding had reached over USD 30,000.

London: A vial said to contain a sample of late Ronald Reagan’s blood has been withdrawn from sale by an online auction house, after criticisms from the former US president’s foundation group.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation had expressed outrage over the auction, in which bidding had reached over USD 30,000.

Guernsey-based PFC Auctions said in a statement that the vial would now be donated to the Reagan foundation.

The foundation said it was pleased the blood would stay “out of public hands”.

PFC Auctions, based on Guernsey in the British Channel Islands, said in a statement that the seller they were representing had bought the blood at a public auction in the US in February 2012 for USD 3,500.

The seller had now agreed for the item to be withdrawn from sale and donated to the foundation in “a considerable financial gesture”.

According to the auctioneers, the seller is a “serious collector of presidential memorabilia” who did not think the Reagan foundation had any interest in the blood that he had bought.

The re-auction had “highlighted the importance of this historical artefact”, the anonymous seller told them.

“I would personally be delighted to see this important artefact put on public display by the foundation”, the BBC quoted the seller as saying.

The lot included a letter of provenance from the original seller who said their late mother worked at the laboratory which carried out blood testing for George Washington University Hospital after Reagan was shot in 1981 by John Hinckley.

ANI

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