JFK Assassin Oswald's Ring Sells For $108k

Lee Harvey Oswald's gold wedding ring has gone under the auction hammer for $108,000 (£67,000).

The ring - which has a tiny hammer and sickle engraved on the inside - was sold to a buyer from Texas who wished to remain anonymous, according to RR Auction, a New Hampshire-based auction house.

The ring that once belonged to the assassin of John F Kennedy was among almost 300 items linked to the former president's life and death that were auctioned in Boston on Thursday.

On the morning of the assassination - November 22, 1963 - Oswald put the ring in a cup on the dresser and left $170 (£105) in one of its drawers before he headed for work at the Texas School Book Depository.

After being turned over to the Secret Service, the ring spent decades in the files of a Fort Worth lawyer before being returned to Oswald's widow, Marina Oswald Porter.

It was only relatively recently that she agreed to put it up for auction.

In a handwritten letter dated May 5, 2013, accompanying the ring, Ms Porter wrote: "At this time of my life I don't wish to have Lee's ring in my possession because symbolically I want to let go of my past that is connecting with Nov 22, 1963."

Prior to the auction Bobby Livingston, an executive vice president with RR Auction, described the jewellery as a "very powerful, significant piece of evidence".

"It gives you such insight into the mind of Lee Harvey Oswald," he said.

Oswald was killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby While while being taken to a county jail, two days after Mr Kennedy's assassination.