Handcuffs used to arrest Lee Harvey Oswald nearly 53 years ago go up for auction These are the cuffs used hours after the Kennedy assassination

A pair of handcuffs used by Dallas police officer Ray Hawkins to arrest accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 22, 1963 are currently being auctioned off online via Goldin Auctions. A pair of handcuffs used by Dallas police officer Ray Hawkins to arrest accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 22, 1963 are currently being auctioned off online via Goldin Auctions. Photo: Goldin Auctions Photo: Goldin Auctions Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Handcuffs used to arrest Lee Harvey Oswald nearly 53 years ago go up for auction 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

A pair of handcuffs used in the arrest of accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald are currently up for grabs in an online auction.

The listing on the Goldin Auctions website states that the cuffs were used by Dallas Police officer Ray Hawkins on Nov. 22, 1963, just hours after President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally were both shot in Downtown Dallas while their motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza.

Bidding on the cuffs has started out at $50,000 but they will likely fetch considerably more by the time the auction ends in early December.

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Hawkins used the cuffs to secure Oswald after he was discovered inside the Texas Theater in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. Oswald had fled into the theater in the hopes of hiding out from the police. Officer Nick McDonald was the one who actually made the arrest.

After a brief scuffle with arresting officers Oswald was brought in for questioning in connection with the death of the president, the shooting injuries to Connally, and the shooting death of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit in the area.

Oswald would be shot and killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby within a matter of days while being transported to a country jail. Oswald always maintained his innocence in connection with the killing of the president, Tippit and the wounds suffered by Connally.

According to the auction listing, the Smith & Wesson cuffs were originally issued to Hawkins when he joined the Dallas Police Department in 1953. He kept them in his possession until the day he died. Since he bought the cuffs he was able to keep them after he left the force.

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Included in the auction is a 2004 affidavit signed by Hawkins detailing the provenance of the cuffs.

Hawkins died in Nov. 2015, just days before the anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. He was 83.

It's worth noting that this is one of just a few important items from that week that is not in the National Archives for safekeeping.