(RNN) - A European auction house is selling a vial that allegedly contains blood from Ronald Reagan, a move that incensed the late-president's foundation with promises of a lawsuit.
According to PFCAuctions, an auction house based in the Channel Islands between the United Kingdom and France, the blood was taken from Reagan at George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC on March, 30, 1981 after he was shot in an assassination attempt,
"If indeed this story is true, it's a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase," said John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in a statement.
However, the unnamed seller of the vial said in the letter of provenance on the auction page that he is a big fan of the president, who was his commander-in-chief when he was in the Army from 1987 to 1991.
"I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that Pres. Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it," the seller said.
The sale runs through Thursday, May 24. The bidding has reached more than 7,500 pounds, or a little more than $11,800.
The statement on the website accompanying a photo of the vial says the seller's mother worked at Bio Science Laboratories in Columbia, MD, a town 25 miles north of Washington near Baltimore.
The auction page claims that the lab had a contract for blood testing with Walter Reed Army Medical Center and George Washington University Hospital.
The seller said that his mother asked her supervisor if she could keep the paperwork and the test tube, and he told her, "no problem," and the vial has been in his family ever since.
"We've spoken to GW Hospital and are assured an investigation as to how something like this could possibly happen is under way. Any individual, including a President of the United States, should feel confident that once they enter into the care of a medical system their privacy and rights are held inviolable," Heubusch said.
The seller also claims that he contacted the Reagan National library "and spoke to the head of the library" in the hopes the organization would purchase the vial. He claimed that the person he spoke with claimed that neither the FBI, the Secret Service nor the National Archives were interested in the vial.
"Since 30 years had passed by, he thought that it was simply something that was of no importance at this time and that I was free to do with whatever I wanted with it," according to the letter of provenance, which is posted on the auction page.
Reagan was shot leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel by John Hinckley Jr., whose motive for shooting the president was to impress actress Jody Foster. Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity, is currently in a psychiatric hospital in Washington.
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An auction house is selling a vial of Ronald Reagan's blood on behalf of an unnamed seller (Source: PFCAuctions)
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