Lee Harvey Oswald life insurance claim sells at auction

The life insurance policy on the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy paid out less than $900 to his mother. Now, the death claim she filed to get that sum has sold at auction for almost $80,000.

The original Notice of Insurance Claim for Lee Harvey Oswald sold for $79,436 on Wednesday, Boston-based RR Auction said in a statement.

The one-page, 8.5-inch by 10.25-inch (21.5-centimeter by 26-centimeter) document came inside a frame alongside a photograph of Oswald. The Proof of Death certificate is signed by Marguerite C. Oswald, and is dated Dec. 26, 1963, just 32 days after Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby.

Issued by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company of Nashville, Tennessee, the document includes Oswald's name, dates of birth and death, specifies the place of death as Dallas, and the cause of death as “gunshot wound.”

The insurance company honored its obligations by paying Marguerite Oswald $863.

Ruby, meanwhile, was found guilty of murdering Oswald and sentenced to death, but both the conviction and death sentence were overturned and Ruby died before he could be retried.

Marguerite Oswald maintained her son’s innocence and came under intense criticism for trying to profit off her son's death.

Some of the other items that sold at the Fine Autograph and Artifacts auction included a signed Marilyn Monroe photograph from 1953 for nearly $29,000; a check signed by Bruce Lee for more $17,700; and a signed photograph of Winston Churchill for more than $8,000.