Air Force One Loot Turns Up on eBay
Rare presidential souvenirs similar to the ones taken from Air Force One when Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton used the aircraft for their final trip home to New York have popped up on the Internet auction site eBay.com, United Press International reported Saturday.
Giving the first family the benefit of the doubt, UPI suggested the missing items had been taken by "Clinton staffers" and noted that "there is no indication that some of the [auction] items ... were among items taken from the plane."
But dealers in collectibles told the wire service that it was unusual for such a large number of presidential souvenirs to become available so soon after the transfer of power.
"These are very hard-to-get items. They are not mass-marketed and are only made for the White House, so we don't see a lot of them," one trader said.
The items up for sale included a White House guest bathrobe, current bid $305; a leather air travel bag, with Air Force One logo ($360) and an Air Force One humidor - item # 544207091, emblazoned with the president's seal - for more than $2,000, 48 cigars included.
The presidential souvenirs were put on sale between Jan. 17 and Jan. 21.
It's unclear just who took the missing Air Force One collectibles, but Mrs. Clinton was accused this past week of soliciting expensive gifts prior to her White House departure to help furnish her New York and Washington homes.
Add to that her reputation for thriftiness, which apparently knows no bounds. The Clintons' IRS returns showed she took tax deductions during the 1980s for donating her husband's used underwear to charity. |
