BEVERLY HILLS, CA.- A pair of Gold Cuff Bracelets by Van Cleef & Arpels — personally given by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Nina Straight, her step-sister and maid of honor when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953 — sold for $162,500 in a public auction of fine jewelry held by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions Sept. 26 in Beverly Hills, California. Kennedy Onassis surprised Straight with the bracelets when she served as Straight's maid of honor 21 years later.

"The bracelet cuffs matched an identical pair Kennedy Onassis often wore, marked No. 50, of a limited edition set," said Jill Burgum, Senior Director of Jewelry at Heritage. "The pair Kennedy Onassis gave to Straight are marked 47 and 48, and it is likely Kennedy Onassis purchased both limited edition sets at the same time and gave Straight the earlier pair."

The name of winning bidder who paid $162,500 for the pair was not revealed. In the auction, conducted by Heritage on September 26, 2016, the cuffs soared past the $30,000 opening bid, and surpassed the price paid for Kennedy Onassis' bracelet cuffs when they were auctioned by Sotheby's in 2011 for $128,500.

"Jackie loved hers so much that she bought me a pair knowing I would enjoy them equally," Straight told Heritage Auctions. "Ours was a very close relationship."