MIAMI (AFP).- Furnishings from late US president John F. Kennedy's winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida sold Saturday for some $400,000, an auction house said.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers sold furniture and decorative arts from the famed "Winter White House" with best-selling items including twin beds and a massage table. 

"Popular items include a pair of Venetian style walnut twin beds where the future president slept alongside his brother Joe, and later (first lady) Jackie Kennedy" Hindman said in a statement, adding that the beds sold for $20,000.

"The walnut framed massage table where the president took massages to relieve his back pain sold for $10,625," it said. 

"A pair of green faux leather chairs from the bedroom where John F. Kennedy stayed sold for $6,250."

The auction was conducted simultaneously online and at the Hindman Palm Beach showroom.

The collection of Kennedy paraphernalia was consigned by John and Marianne Castle, a couple who purchased the home and much of its contents from the Kennedy family in 1995.

The walled, beachfront Kennedy estate in Palm Beach and its contents had been sold to the Castles after the death of family matriarch Rose Kennedy in 1995. 

JFK as a child vacationed at the mansion, and spent a great deal of time there after being elected president in 1960, holding staff meetings and numerous press conferences. 



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