JFK assassination ‘sniper’s perch’ the place Lee Harvey Oswald shot President put up for public sale
The original ‘sniper’s perch’ window used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President John F Kennedy is being auctioned with a starting price of £55,000
The window used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F Kennedy has been put up for auction(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The window used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate US President John F Kennedy has been put up for auction with a starting price of £55,000.
The infamous timber-framed “sniper’s perch”, which measures 40 inches by 66 inches, was originally removed from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository by the building’s owner. After previously being showcased in a museum, the historic artefact is now going under the hammer in Dallas – 63 years after the world-shattering assassination.
JFK was tragically gunned down as his presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Following the shooting, investigators recovered three spent bullet casings and the rifle believed to be the assassination weapon from the depository building.
The upcoming sale is being managed by Heritage Auctions on June 25. Commenting on the unique lot, the auction firm’s Ray Farina said of the window: “It is an icon of 20th century history.
“Among all surviving artefacts connected to the assassination none possesses the immediacy, power and historical gravity of the original sixth-floor ‘sniper’s perch’ window – the actual window from which the fatal shots were fired.
“Instantly recognisable to generations, this single object stands at the centre of one of the most shocking and consequential moments in modern history.”
Farina explained that the window was originally taken down by depository owner Colonel D Harold Byrd, before later being transferred to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
Just two days after JFK’s assassination, Oswald himself was gunned down by nightclub boss Jack Ruby on live television inside the Dallas Police Headquarters.
The high-profile assassination has remained a breeding ground for wild conspiracy theories for decades.
To this day, many theorists firmly believe the CIA and the mafia orchestrated JFK’s death due to his controversial intentions to pull out of the Vietnam War and slash the intelligence agency’s funding.
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