Five weeks in at cllct, we’re unveiling a new feature: "What’s the Better Deal?"
It’s where we take two alike items and ask you to decide which is the better deal.
Sometimes, we will do it before an auction; other times, we will do it after. When we do it afterward, the price paid becomes part of the equation.
So here we go:
On Wednesday, two pages of notes from President John F. Kennedy sold in different auctions.
In a University Archives lot, a note from JFK to his associate, Langdon Marvin, sold for $1,375. It reads: "Langdon/This is what I was talking about/J.K.” It comes on a beautiful piece of JFK stationary, and is signed by Kennedy with a highly legible signature.
However, the note is undated, and it is unclear what Kennedy was referencing.
The same day, R.R. Auctions sold a relatively similar one page document of Kennedy’s scribbles for $34,504.
The reason for the huge price discrepancy? The doodles are Kennedy's notes from a meeting at the Rice Hotel in Houston, and the page is dated to Nov. 21, 1963, written less than 24 hours before he was assassinated in Dallas.
Does the timing of the signature make it worth 23 times more, especially when considering it ranks as one of the last pieces of JFK memorabilia?
We asked cllct users to decide by voting in our Instagram story at @cllctmedia.
We will reveal the final results Friday.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.