NEW YORK, NY.- Headlining the June 16 Voices of the 20th Century Sale at Bonhams will be a unique plaster bust of the late John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. It is estimated at $200,000 – 300,000.

The bust is an original plaster maquette of President Kennedy, created by Felix de Weldon, best known as the creator of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial depicting the historic raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima.

De Weldon was a prolific and important sculptor in the post-war period, who completed busts of some of the most important figures of the day. His busts of Truman in 1946, and earlier in England in the late 1930s, George V, George VI, and Edward VIII brought him to the attention of Jacqueline Kennedy when she was looking for a sculptor to create the official bust of John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1963.

He came to the White House for sittings with the President on at least two occasions in the summer and fall of 1963, but the plaster bust was still incomplete at the time of Kennedy’s assassination in November of that year. De Weldon continued to work on the bust at his studio where Jacqueline Kennedy visited him a number of times. According to the sculptor in his memoirs, once the plaster bust was complete, Mrs. Kennedy came to his studio and made a few small changes to the image. On June 4, 1964, Jackie wrote to de Weldon in a letter, "I do want to tell you how pleased I am with your bust of the President, and when it is placed in the Library, I know it will serve as a constant reminder of the President and all he means to our country. The likeness is really quite remarkable and I do appreciate your letting me work with you during the final stages of its completion.”

This image of Kennedy was one of the family’s favorite images of the late President.

Bonhams brings this unique bust to auction from a private collector who purchased it in the 1990s from De Weldon.

Director of Business Development at the Books and Manuscripts department at Bonhams, Tom Lamb, says, “This bust is a magnificent highlight of the Voices of the 20th Century sale, a new and exciting themed sale, which encompasses the political, cultural, and scientific shifts that took place during the tumultuous years between 1900 and 2000.”

The auction will be held at 1pm.