Iconic photos featuring three presidents whose items are often treated as collectibles are quietly being auctioned in a “private treaty offer” timed for the election.
One photo shows the Sept. 26, 1960, debate between then-Vice President Richard Nixon and then-Sen. John F. Kennedy from behind the cameras and lights used in the first-ever televised clash. Both presidents signed it.
“The photo depicts Kennedy at left as he responds to Nixon at far right, with moderator Howard K. Smith seated between the two candidates. News cameras, microphones, and spotlights are visible throughout,” the write-up from Alexander Historical Auctions said.
The other shows former President Donald Trump minutes after he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer. It, too, is signed.
Bill Panagopulos, the president of a Maryland-based auction house, said the debate photo price is set at $26,000 and the Trump photo at $9,000.
If they don’t sell privately, they will be offered in Alexander’s larger online auction on Dec. 5 and 6.
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“These photos come from two of the most consequential elections in American history,” Panagopulos told Secrets.
“The Nixon-Kennedy debate and the assassination attempt on Trump changed everything in those elections,” he added.
