Massive Collection Goes On Block In NYC And On Ebay

(CBS) Yet another collection of John F. Kennedy memorabilia is about to go on the auction block in New York and on eBay to a public still fascinated by the legend of Camelot, 42 years after the death of the president.

The collection of the late Robert White, said to be one of the largest and most comprehensive, will be auctioned by Guernsey's Auction House in New York from Dec. 15 to Dec. 17, with previews Dec. 13 and Dec. 14. The bidding on more than 1,500 items in New York will be accompanied by "real time" bidding on eBay.

The auction includes objects from virtually every aspect of Kennedy's life, ranging from his childhood to his marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier, his early days as a congressman, then senator and finally, president.

The collection is huge and varied. Guernsey's president, Arlan Ettinger, told The Early Show that White "devoted his entire life to assembling it, then befriended the president's trusted secretary. When she passed away, [part of her collection] went into Robert's."

One of 12 rocking chairs the president used to ease his back pain will be sold to the highest bidder, along with the pen he used to sign the order to blockade Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and an early version of a portable phone that was used as a hotline to the White House when he traveled.

A presidential doodle of a sailboat is included and, notes Ettinger, the sailboat itself, the 22-foot Flash II.

"We couldn't fit it in the studio, but it's in the sale," he says. Originally built in 1930, the sleek sloop was purchased in 1934 by Kennedy and his older brother, Joe, who would later die serving in World War II.

Some of the items inevitably are poignant, like the 1950s-vintage passports carried by Kennedy and his young wife, Jacqueline, and the flags that flew from the limousine in which the president was riding in Dallas on that fateful day 42 years ago.

And, as everyone knows, the president loved his cigars. The auction includes two of his cigar boxes, Ettinger notes, one of which sat on his desk in the Oval Office. "It not only has his name on it," he says, "but if you see inside, there are actual cigars that were in the Oval Office" still there.

According to Ettinger, White had been fascinated by JFK since he was 12 years old and Kennedy was a young politician. As a teenager, he wrote letters to the White House that were answered by Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln. Their correspondence grew into friendship. When Lincoln died in 1995, she left a portion of her personal collection to White.

White, who had hoped to build a Kennedy museum to house his collection, died of a heart attack two years ago at age 54.