THE COFFIN WHICH used to be the resting place of Lee Harvey Oswald – although not his final one, as it turns out – is up for auction. The man who is believed to have shot US President John F Kennedy was buried in the simple pine box after he himself was assassinated in November 1963.

His widow demanded that he be exhumed in 1981 to verify that it was in fact his remains in the box, according to the BBC. Oswald’s remains were then reinterred in a new casket in a Texan cemetery.

The old casket is now to be auctioned off in a few weeks and is expected to attract attention because of its former occupant’s link with JFK. Laura Yntema, manager for Nate D Sanders auction house in the States, which is holding the auction, said:

There’s just a lot of interest in Kennedy and anything to do with his assassination.

Oswald was arrested on suspicion of shooting JFK dead in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He was then himself shot dead two days later, sparking conspiracy theories about the true identity of JFK’s killer.

The macabre auction in LA also “includes instruments that were used to embalm Oswald, his death certificate, an Easter card he sent to his brother, and a section of the car seat on which President Kennedy was sitting when he was shot,” the BBC reports.

JFK memorabilia fans were offered another unusual piece of history for sale last month when a cake decoration from his 45th birthday party went up for grabs. It sold for $6,572.50.