Barack Obama Leather Swatch From Drivers Seat of Jeep Cherokee, His First New Car. CAG Encapsulated.

Swatch, .50" x .625". Black leather swatch, taken from the driver's seat of Barack Obama's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Encapsulated by CAG, measuring 2.375'' x 3.375''.

When Obama became President, he toured the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit that built the vehicle from which this swatch was removed.  He followed up the tour with a speech near the assembly line where he remarked "The first new car I ever bought was a Grand Cherokee," to a thunderous applause, while starting his speech. " …. Up until that point, I had some old beat-up used cars …. I still remember walking into that showroom and driving out with that new car, that new car smell, everything worked, everything was electronic and I had to roll up my windows up until that point. So I got some good memories of that car ..."

After President Obama owned the Jeep, it ended up at a used-car dealership in the Chicago area, where it was purchased by a woman named Liz Murphy in 2004. By then, President Obama was running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, so with considerable foresight, Murphy photocopied the title (a copy of which will be included with this lot), which indicated that the previous owner was Barack Obama of 5450 S. East View Park, Chicago, Ill., 60615. She auctioned it off with Robert Edward Auction in 2010, after President Obama's ascent to the highest elected office in the U.S. The new owner became John Reznikoff, the owner of University Archives, who then sold the car later in 2010. After nearly 9 years, the current owner offered the car once again through a University Archives auction which can be viewed here:

https://auction.universityarchives.com/auction-lot/barack-obama-first-new-vehicle-ever-owned-2000-gr_9894ADFAD7/ 

The car sold for $50,000.

The leather swatch from the driver's seat was removed by Reznikoff on November 3, 2010 and placed in a "Classic Car Gallery" envelope which Reznikoff signed and dated. A photocopy of the envelope will be included in the provenance.

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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