He is, however, a fan and buyer of the works of one of Jackie's friends, photographer and sculptor Alexander Liberman, the legendary former editorial director of media giant Conde Nast. So when a book on Greece by Liberman came up for bidding, Wilks plunged right in. The author's reaction to the $4000 auction price: "Quite frankly, Mr. Wilks, you probably could have purchased it for $10 at any used bookstore."
Still, Wilks, a retired lawyer who lives in Hamilton, Ohio, is pleased. And particularly so after examining the obviously well-read book and finding between the pages a piece of paper with some inspirational words on coping with illness. "I think it was something to pep her up when she was ill," says Wilks.
Wilks also purchased for $37.000 a pair of gold earrings that Jackie was photographed wearing frequently. "I didn't buy jewelry," Wilks declares. "I bought history." Even so, he keeps the earrings in a drawer, not a safe, and lets his girlfriend and daughters wear them. "They're not art," he says.
DR. JULES LANE
Dr. Lane has a problem. Hanging over the fireplace in his bedroom for almost three years is the charcoal sketch of JFK by Elaine de Kooning that he purchased at the auction. It's the first thing he sees when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing before he goes to sleep. But, says Dr. Lane of Hicksville, New York, "I'm a Republican. If it was Eisenhower, I would feel better. But my wife wanted it, more than me, and I usually try to get her anything she wants."
What's more, the charcoal sketch reminds him of years ago when he lived in the same Park Avenue building as Joseph Kennedy, and regularly ferried the patriarch of the clan, his wife and JFK uptown.
"It's a piece of history," says Lane, noting that the sketch was done the year Kennedy was killed and is likely a preliminary drawing for a painting. "I'd like to leave this to my kids."
Lane has absolutely no regrets about the $100,000-plus purchase: "I enjoy it and I've grown to like it more in the three years. In a way, it's like anything you own. Familiarity breeds hatred or endearment, I'm happy."
JOE FASO
"I was more interested in John Kennedy than in Jackie," says Faso, who lives in Stockton, California. "The first time I ever voted was for him. liked him and I felt safe when he was president." Faso, who owns a chain of auto-wrecking facilities in three states, fancied three items belonging to JFK--a humidor, golf clubs and rocking chair--but he realized prices were going to go out of sight when two handfuls of seashells went for $2000 to $4000.
Then he remembered another item that had caught his eye: a foot-long lighter that also doubles as a measuring stick. "I thought it was pretty cool because it was so unique," he says. "It's engraved `To J and J. Thanks for the immeasurable summer' and it lists a whole bunch of countries and cities around the Mediterranean. I don't know who gave it to them." The winning bid: $23,000.
Faso placed the lighter in his bedroom in a locked curio--"My grandmother had this old curved glass cabinet and it's in there with a statue of John Kennedy and a picture of John and Jackie."--and it hasn't been out until recently, when Faso found the key. "I couldn't remember where I put it," he observes. "I looked at the lighter like it was somebody else's." The lighter will go to his children.
NORMA MOYES
Joe Faso's mother attended the auction with her son, thinking she was there just to keep him company. So when, after buying a carved jade pin for $12,000, he turned to her and announced, "That's for you. Happy birthday," "I almost died," says Moyes. "I never thought I'd own something that belonged to somebody that famous. I feel quite honored."
Moyes was a fan of the President and First Lady: "I just thought they were a great couple. And after Kennedy died, my heart went out to her. I thought she was a great lady."
Moyes converted the jade, which she doubts was actually a pin (it had a smooth back), into a pendant that she wears on special occasions, like birth days or Christmas. She's nervous, though, about losing or misplacing her treasure. "That's why I don't wear it that often and when I go into the safe, I usually look to make sure it's still there. I check on it all the time."
NORMAN PATTIZ
Pattiz calls himself "a child of the 60s" and remembers being glued to the television set for a charismatic Kennedy's performances at press conferences. That's why he was overjoyed when he nabbed a publisher's copy of Profiles in Courage. "The idea that it was Jackie Kennedy's personal copy certainly played a part in wanting it," says Pattiz of Los Angeles, the chairman of Westwood One, a radio group. "But had it been her personal copy of Little Women, I wouldn't have been all that interested."
Pattiz paid $60,000 for the book, which is on prominent display in the library, and around $49,000 for a 19th-century marble-topped mahogany pier table: "This was something that sat in the White House. It now sits in our dining room. We see it every day. And we use it as a buffet to serve off of at dinners about once a month."
Second thoughts? "Not for a second," declares Pattiz. "These items probably mean more to us after three years simply because as things become more a part of your life, they tend to mean more. They are certainly things I would never consider parting with. It's really a gift to live with things that have historical significance."
SUSAN LUCCI
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