LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S TO BE SOLD AT AUCTION

FOR THE JFK-ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY JUNKIE WHO HAS EVERYTHING: LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S COFFIN, BODY NOT INCLUDED. A LOS ANGELES AUCTION HOUSE SAID ON TUESDAY IT WOULD SELL THE SIMPLE PINE COFFIN IN WHICH THE SUSPECTED ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY WAS BURIED FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS. BIDDING WILL START AT $1,000, BUT THE ITEM IS EXPECTED TO FETCH STRONG INTEREST FROM MUSEUMS AND COLLECTORS OF PRESIDENTIAL MEMORABILIA WHEN IT GOES ON THE BLOCK ON 16.DECEMBER. 'THERE'S JUST A LOT OF INTEREST IN KENNEDY AND ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS ASSASSINATION', SAID LAURA YNTEMA, AUCTION MANAGER AT SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA-BASED NATE D SANDERS. THE COFFIN WAS UNEARTHED IN OCTOBER 1981 AFTER A LEGAL DISPUTE BETWEEN OSWALD'S WIDOW, MARINA, AND HIS BROTHER, ROBERT. MARINA SUCCESSFULLY SOUGHT AN EXHUMATION TO TEST A CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT A LOOKALIKE RUSSIAN AGENT HAD BEEN BURIED IN HER HUSBAND'S PLACE, ACCORDING TO THE AUCTION HOUSE. A MEDICAL EXAM SHOWED THE BADLY DECOMPOSED BODY WAS INDEED OSWALD'S, AND HE WAS RETURNED TO SHANNON ROSE HILL MEMORIAL PARK IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS, IN A NEW CASKET. THE ORIGINAL COFFIN, WHICH HAD SUFFERED EXTENSIVE WATER DAMAGE, IS BEING SOLD BY BAUMGARDNER FUNERAL HOME, THE LOCAL UNDERTAKER WHICH HANDLED THE RE-INTERNMENT.