pay a price. thank you, katie for being with us. and mark, great tweets on this and always. thanks for being with us. steve fo >> an 8-year-old gets a very strange inheritance. >> when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. >> but what does a boy do with a winery? >> the funniest thing is when i would tell my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> talk about getting your feet wet in a new business. >> drink it. it's grape juice. >> that is really good. >> but how does the family keep it from dying on the vine? >> i didn't know anything about wine except that i like to drink it. >> so what's the heir going to do when he grows up? >> i'm trying to prove that i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. [ cork pops ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm traveling through the willamette valley of oregon -- wine country. in fact, this area is home to around 400 wineries. so you can probably guess what this episode of "strange inheritance" is all about. but it's one that was passed down far too soon, and to a most improbable heir. >> my name is pascal brooks. when i was 8 years old, i inherited something that is pretty special and still blows my mind. ♪ >> thank you so much for having me, pascal. wow, it is an honor to meet you. how unusual is it for somebody your age to be in charge of all this? >> i'm not the one that does the work. i simply own it. >> the 18-year-old may own this winery, but he can't legally drink its product. however, he does pitch in, every so often, to get a good feel for his strange inheritance. nice to see you helping out

the family winery. very nice. the story of how pascal became the world's youngest owner of a winery begins with his father, jimi brooks. janie heuck is pascal's aunt. she and pascal's dad, jimi, grew up in portland. >> as we got older and got out of high school, we both took very, very different paths. >> janie zips through a degree in accounting, while jimi goes on the five-year plan, finally gets his b.a., but then decides to find himself by traveling through europe. >> so he moved over there, took a few jobs, would go spend his money travelling, and find another job. >> for one job, jimi harvests grapes in the beaujolais region of france. at another, he teaches english as a second language in krakow, poland, a position he takes after setting eyes on 20-year-old waitress bozena kutyba. romance leads to marriage in september 1995.

soon baby pascal arrives, and jimi moves his young family back to portland. >> i remember the first time when we drove from the airport into portland. i've never seen anything like that -- this beautiful river and then the lights. >> jimi gets a gig as a vineyard manager, and in his spare time starts his own brand of wine. he enlists the help of a friend, chris williams, who until that point was not a winemaker, but a motorcycle mechanic. >> jimi's whole goal was to be able to make wines that people enjoyed, make wines that we enjoyed. >> but while jimi's focused on his career, his marriage to bozena turns bitter. in 2000, they divorce. they agree that pascal will spend every other weekend with his dad. on many a saturday, jimi takes pascal to work. your dad tried to pull you into this as a kid, right?

he wanted you around? >> whenever i was with him, it was more for the fact that i was with him and he was happy that i was there. >> what do you remember about your dad? >> i remember waking up, and it'd be cold and early, and we'd get into this dilapidated truck, and we'd stop for coffee and a cinnamon roll early in the morning. >> by 2001, jimi is head winemaker for one winery, and as a perk, he's allowed to make thousands of cases of his own brooks wine on the side. jimi starts buying grapes from other farmers, then leases a 20-acre plot planted with old vines. he hopes to buy it one day. jimi becomes a pioneer in oregon of a farming method he learned in france called biodynamics. it uses no chemicals or additives, but focuses on soil fertility and even the phases of the moon. >> so the fruit comes in... >> chris gives me a little backstage tour and shows me how they make their pinot noir. they're beautiful grapes. may i taste one?

>> of course. >> mmm. >> nice and ripe, sweet, but not too sweet. >> amazing. >> the idea behind pinot is to have whole berries, which lets the fermentation happen inside the berry. >> this is a pretty big bucket of grapes. how many bottles of wine am i looking at? >> about a 120 gallons, which would be roughly 50 cases. >> by december 2003, jimi's wines are getting noticed throughout oregon and beyond. he tells the atlantic monthly magazine he hopes that one day his winery will be his son's inheritance. >> he stated in that very clearly that he wanted his winery to be a legacy for pascal. >> then one saturday morning in september 2004, jimi is arguing with his ex-wife about whose turn it is to be with pascal. after that call, jimi makes another one, to his girlfriend.

>> he was on the phone with his girlfriend when he mentioned that his chest was hurting and could she come over. >> before jimi's girlfriend can arrive, jimi dies of an aortic aneurysm. he's 38 years old. pascal is 8. >> i think when my dad died, everyone was heartbroken. kids soak up the atmosphere, and it wasn't that i readily wanted to do that, but you just don't know how to rationalize it. >> jimi's sister, janie, is at home in northern california with her husband and two young children when she gets the call. she immediately begins the long trek up to oregon. she arrives to a find a crowd of people she barely knows in her brother's house. what happens next will not only turn janie's life upside down, but determine whether her nephew's strange inheritance is anything but a crop of grapes about to wither on the vine. >> one of the few things you can do for someone who's died

is help their family take care of their unfinished business. >> that's next. and later... how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... is it because...? the answer in a moment. ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone

[ wind howls ] [ bird caws ] >> so what's the reason some winemakers crush their grapes with their feet? it's, "c," flavor. the human foot is said to be ideally suited to crushing grapes without breaking open the grape seeds that give wine a bitter taste. >> it's september 2004, the middle of harvest season for oregon winemakers. this year, however, shock permeates this beautiful landscape after up-and-coming winemaker jimi brooks dies unexpectedly. the 38-year-old leaves behind a wine label that's won critical acclaim, and his only heir, an 8-year-old son, pascal. there are also loose ends. jimi has no will and zero savings. he's left pascal's mom, bozena, with few options. >> he was a known winemaker,

but when pascal inherited the winery, it was more like a label -- really not much behind it. i said the only thing i can try is to raise pascal. >> but there's another pressing issue. jimi left several tons of grapes still on the vine. his sister, janie, arrives in oregon to settle his affairs. what did the other growers tell you about the importance of jimi's work continuing? >> he was blazing new trails, and they didn't want to see the brand go away, and they all stepped up and offered to take his fruit that year and make his wine for free if i would help them on the business side. >> tad seestedt is one of those other growers and a longtime friend of jimi's. >> one of the few things you can do for someone who's died is help their family take care of their unfinished business. jimi had told me at least a handful of times he didn't feel like he had much of

a legacy for pascal besides his winery. >> so tad and the other growers harvest jimi's crop, make it into wine, and keep brooks winery alive. and janie begins the legal paperwork of transferring ownership of brooks winery to her nephew, pascal. she agrees to be his financial guardian and manager of the winery without pay, but there's one big problem. >> i didn't know anything about wine at all except that i like to drink it. >> so janie bones up on viticulture, the study of grapes for winemaking, and she asks chris williams to be head winemaker. was it important to you to talk him into taking the role? >> he was the only one that had worked for jimi, and that's where he had learned everything he knew about making wine. >> this sounds like a recipe for disaster -- an 8-year-old kid and his accountant aunt get together with a former motorcycle mechanic to make wine? but let me sit down and taste

that pinot before passing judgment. so, aerate? why? >> it blends oxygen with the wine, and it brings out more of the aromatics. >> smell because? >> it gives your senses a feeling of what you're actually gonna get. >> wow. i'm speechless. normally i would come up with tobacco and wood tree and mold, but in a good way, but it's none of those things. okay, delicious wine. not a bad start. but selling wine is a hyper-competitive business, and i've learned getting those first bottles sold while you're making your next vintage can require big bucks. all of this doesn't come cheap. >> and trying to keep the demand side equivalent to our supply was a big learning curve for me. >> so while janie goes on the road to entice distributors, pascal trolleys off to grade school, able to brag about being the youngest winery owner in the world. >> i think the funniest thing with that is when i would tell

my friends' parents, and they would totally freak out. >> soon, several stores in the high-end supermarket chain whole foods agree to stock brooks wines, as do other retailers in nine states and japan. on a roll in 2005, janie re-negotiates a lease for the same vineyard where jimi had been growing his grapes. she also develops a 2,500-square-foot sales and tasting room in amity, oregon, in anticipation of exponential growth... which doesn't happen. >> it did get to a point where i had to really get ahold of how to add more markets so that we could sell more wine. >> faced with losing momentum and losing her brother's only legacy to his son, janie searches for her next move. that is, until affairs of state intervene. >> lo and behold, i got a phone call from the white house. >> that and the future of brooks wines' young heir

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following the untimely death of his father, jimi brooks. his aunt, janie heuck, volunteered to oversee brooks wines until its young heir comes of age. but she's struggling to keep her brother's legacy afloat. that is, until she gets a phone call from a wine steward in chicago. >> he called me and told me he was catering a dinner and wanted to serve our riesling, and, lo and behold, the next day i got a phone call and an e-mail from the white house. >> brooks' 2006 ara riesling is selected for president barack obama's first state dinner, honoring the prime minister of india. >> when the white house calls and places an order for wine for a state dinner, does that wine sell out? >> well, in this case, because there was so much hype around it being his first dinner, it made it even more sought-after. >> even though brooks wines is now riding high, things aren't going as well for pascal.

>> i think there's the age when their dad should be at their games, and they know that they will never get that. i think that was the most difficult time for pascal. >> add to that, pascal and his mom have relocated across the country from portland to pittsburgh so that she could take a new job. >> when i left oregon, i was heartbroken. i think, for me, i was still in shock. >> pascal spends summers in oregon, but the trips remind him of what's missing in his life -- his father. what is it like to not be able to turn to your dad and say, "hey, dad?" >> the older you get, you realize there's a shadow of something that should be there, and so you're constantly clinging for something like that. >> during his summer visits, pascal gets hands-on experience in the winery he owns. does it bring you any comfort then to have this be a part of your life? >> it's more for the fact of making those people's lives easier and trying to prove that

i'm not the owner's kid who just gets handed these things. >> it's finally time for me to get some hands-on experience of my own. well, not hands-on, but feet-on. it's the time-honored practice of stomping grapes. >> jamie, come on in. join me. >> all right, where's my stunt double when i need her? how deep is it? >> oh, about up to your knees. >> you know, i failed gymnastics. ahhh. ooh! >> it feels good. >> grapes feel good. i hear they're anti-aging. so what are we doing exactly? >> we want a little bit of separation before we make it into rosé. we're separating the berry itself from its juice. >> wow, what an awesome feeling. they still make wine this way? >> some places they do. drink it. it's grape juice. [ slurps ] >> whoa. >> it's good, isn't it? >> that is really good. now, brooks has become too big to make its wine this way.

you might say it's on more solid footing. [ rim shot ] they're making pinot noirs and rieslings in jimi's style -- at least 12,000 cases a year -- and now selling in 14 states, japan, and the u.k. >> we have a great distribution network right now, so plenty of demand for our product throughout the country, and i feel like we're really solid and really stable. >> solid enough for janie to realize it's time for a big step. a plot of land that was very special to her brother comes up for sale -- a 20-acre vineyard he had always wanted to buy. >> we thought, okay, it's time for us to acquire the vineyard. >> but what about the 18-year-old owner of brooks winery? what does any of this mean for him and his strange inheritance? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? that's next. it's easy to think that all

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"strange inheritance." [ bird caws ] >> 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of jimi brooks' death, a winemaker whose passion and innovative techniques live on through the dedication of his sister, janie, his best friend, chris, and his only child, pascal, now 18 years old, and the heir to this strange inheritance. since jimi died in 2004, janie has been running the business and growing it by leaps and bounds. >> we grew from jimi making 2,500 cases, and now we make between 12,000 and 14,000, which is really the sweet spot in terms of keeping our wines affordable. >> janie knew that when her brother started the winery, he wanted it to have a permanent vineyard on a special plot of land -- the one he was leasing when he grew his last crop of grapes in 2004.

when it comes up for sale, brooks wines is not able to swing the deal by itself, but aunt janie decides now is the time. did you have to put any of your own money in? >> yeah. my husband and i personally own the vineyard, and pascal leases it from us. >> in april 2014, the brooks winery you see here today broke ground. the business is still 100% owned by pascal. it's no longer the fledgling label his father left behind, but a big enterprise with long-term commitments. so how does all of that sit with a young man headed off to college? will he follow in his dad's footsteps? what if you go to college and you decide, "i want to be an architect"? >> then that's what i'm gonna do. i'll still own it, but i'll be an architect. >> before pascal heads off... [ cork pops ] ...janie throws a party to celebrate the new winery and their loving memory of jimi brooks.

>> so that was your dad's europe backpack, and this is a draft book -- a collection of stories and pictures from your dad's friends. i didn't have time to finish it, but... [ applause ] >> one of my favorite things he left me was his library. i've gone through and found his notes scrawled in the margins or found something that he says there. it's like having a conversation with him. >> i think he's right now at this very good point in his life when he is looking forward to honor his dad's memory, but he is so set on making his own path, and that is exactly like his dad. >> he's my rainbow. the day we broke ground here, there was a double rainbow over the vineyard. i'm not a super spiritual person that way, but i do feel when things might need to be a little bit brighter, something good will happen,

and i attribute that to him. >> the brooks wines label comes from a tattoo that jimi had on his left arm. it's the mythical serpent known as ouroboros, swallowing its own tail. in cultures around the world, it represents the never-ending cycle of life, death, and renewal. when he chose it, jimi could not have known just how appropriate a symbol it would become for the winery that he founded, that his sister rescued and built into a success, and that his son, pascal, has inherited. and now pascal tells me he's going to get that same tattoo. so here's to all that. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it.

send me an e-mail or or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com >> a sailor who was with jfk aboard pt-109. >> the ship came out of the dark, and harold was killed. >> the young man's mother begins a correspondence with the future president. >> i was actually shocked when i saw what the letters detailed. >> the letters are tucked away for years. >> these documents could be of significant historical value, and they could also be worth a lot of money. >> this is one of those treasures that surfaces that nobody knew existed. >> a treasure, all right, if they can prove they're real. >> the signatures looked authentic. >> looked authentic. and this is a real signature? >> that's a real jfk signature. >> you're 100% sure? >> will bidders open their wallets? >> looking for $100,000. bid $100,000. looking for $100,000. yes, now $110,000. $110,000, now $120,000.

[ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm on my way to fall river, massachusetts, about an hour south of boston. i'm going to meet a man who's strange inheritance begins with his family's powerful connection to a future president. >> i'm dennis harkins. our mother passed in 1990. she left us with correspondence regarding our uncle harold who was lost in the south pacific during world war ii. >> dennis. i'm jamie. >> pleased to meet you. >> what is this place? >> this has to do with our inheritance. >> these ships. >> mm-hmm. yes. >> let's check it out. the battleship cove museum here in fall river has two of the last remaining pt boats from world war ii. dennis' uncle harold, who served

on a pt boat, joined the navy in november 1941. >> he was the impish, typical younger brother. i think it was probably exciting for him. >> then, a month later, pearl harbor. [ explosions ] with the u.s. at war, harold is shipped to the south pacific. he puts in a request to join a pt boat crew. "pt" is navy lingo for "patrol torpedo." in addition to torpedos, the 80-foot boats were armed with twin machine-gun turrets, including one just to the right of the captain's helm. >> they could lay low in the water, wait for the enemy ships to pass, and then attack them with the torpedos. >> the museum's pt boat curator, don shannon, shows me around. wow. tight quarters. why are they called the mosquito

fleet? >> mosquitos could infect you with malaria. so, they were deadly, and they were small and fast. >> by the summer of 1943, harold is stationed aboard a pt boat, like this one, near the solomon islands. harold's captain -- 26-year-old navy lieutenant junior grade john f. kennedy. so, don, this is where john f. kennedy, lieutenant junior grade, controlled the ship from. >> correct. >> right here. can barely see over. and they operated in the dark of night? >> yes. >> four feet away is where harold was operating that turret. this really puts it in perspective. >> the idea was to go out and attack the destroyers and sink them. >> but no radar. >> the 109 did not have radar. so, you know, try driving down the highway at night with your headlights off. >> on one such night -- august 1st, 1943 -- out of the

darkness comes the amagiri, a japanese destroyer traveling at 40 knots. 19-year-old harold marney is stationed in that gun turret. >> harold gave the alarm, "ship at 2:00." >> the amagiri slices right through pt-109. >> and right here, where you're standing, this wing tank actually exploded. >> it's hard to imagine anyone could have survived. >> things happened so fast. he probably got sucked into the wake of the ship. >> harold and a second sailor, andrew kirksey, didn't have a chance. the surviving sailors swim to a small string of islands and take refuge until they're rescued six days later. distraught over the loss of his men, lieutenant kennedy writes to harold's mother, jenny marney. what did jfk tell her? >> "dear mrs. marney, this letter is to offer my deepest sympathy for the loss of your son."

>> kennedy goes on to write, "i realize that there is nothing i can say can make your sorrow less. harold had come on board my boat a week before to serve as an engineer. he fitted in quickly and was very well-liked." jenny writes back to kennedy right away, thanking him for his letter and asking if it's somehow possible that her son harold could still be alive. kennedy responds, "when the crew was finally united around the floating bow, we could find no trace of him, although every effort was made to find him. i am terribly sorry that i cannot be of more help or encouragement to you." >> my grandmother jenny, who we called mum, was from amherst, nova scotia. she was very english. she was very proper. >> and she feels she's made a friend. in early 1944, mum learns that kennedy will be back in boston to get treated for the back injuries he sustained on pt-109. she goes to visit him in the

hospital. you don't just get in to see jack kennedy. >> no. no. no, you don't. [ chuckles ] >> but somehow, she does, more than once. >> what they talked about, god only knows, but i'm sure they talked about harold. they probably talked about his brother joe. >> jfk's older brother joe was a naval aviator. when he's killed in a top-secret mission over england, jenny sends her own letter of condolence. jfk writes back. it says, "i want you to know how much i appreciated your card." standard "thank you" note. but he goes on to say, "i know you know how we all feel. boys like harold and my brother joe can never be replaced." incredible. and he says, "i hope that i shall see you sometime again." >> yes. >> in 1946, kennedy is elected to congress. six years later, to the senate. and in november 1960, kennedy wins the white house, narrowly

defeating vice president richard nixon. >> the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans born in this century. >> just three months after taking office, in april 1961, kennedy writes to mum again. he sends her a photo of a memorial wall at the manila american cemetery in the philippines that's inscribed with harold's name. kennedy closes his letter saying, "if ever you are in the nation's capital, i would like very much to have the white house and other public places here shown to you." then comes that awful day in november 1963. [ gunshot ] >> president kennedy was shot today, just as his motorcade left downtown dallas. >> it's the end of the white house camelot years and the end of mum's relationship with the most powerful man in the world.

jenny marney dies in 1973 and bequeaths her carefully preserved letters from kennedy to her daughter, dennis' mother, elaine. elaine gives the letters to her son in 1985, just five years before she dies. >> when i first looked at them, it was, "oh, wow." and promptly put them in a safe deposit box. >> there they remain for the next quarter century. but a surprise phone call from a stranger will re-ignite this family's interest in their unique inheritance. >> i got on the phone and left this very strange message. "are you the nephew of pt-109 crew member harold w. marney?" >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. what's the most expensive piece of presidential memorabilia ever sold at auction? is it washington's personally

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>> so, what's the most expensive piece of presidential memorabilia? it's "a," george washington's personally annotated draft copy of the constitution.

it sold for nearly $10 million in 2012. >> for years, jenny marney corresponds with john f. kennedy after her son harold was killed on the pt boat jfk commanded. they remain friends until jfk's assassination in 1963. neither dennis harkins nor francis piorek, who are half-brothers, ever met their uncle harold. >> what i heard about my uncle was really just whispers and stuff. "oh, you know, uncle harold was on pt-109, and john f. kennedy was the commander." >> but when francis grows up, he catches the genealogy bug and starts posting messages online. i came to the realization that, geez, i didn't really know much about my family. and my uncle was kind of semi-famous. >> francis says he's looking for any unknown relatives of harold marney. his message goes unnoticed until 2013, when brian willette, the

junior vice commander of a vfw post, petitions to place a headstone for marney in a veterans' cemetery near springfield, massachusetts. >> i could not find him anywhere honored, and not even in springfield. and he was from east springfield. >> brian comes across francis' post from way back in 2001. >> i got on the phone and left this very strange message. "are you the nephew of pt-109 crew member harold w. marney?" >> it was quite shocking to get a call out of the blue. >> in august 2013, that gravestone for uncle harold is placed at the veterans' cemetery. it gets dennis thinking about those four jfk letters written to his grandmother that he's been holding on to for 25 years. isn't time he did something with them? but then comes another kind of reckoning for dennis and francis. their brother john dies of

diabetes at the age of 57. >> it kind of makes you start to think about what do you want to do with the rest of your life, 'cause his death was unexpected. >> they retrieve the letters, which francis has never seen. >> and i was actually shocked when i saw what the letters actually detailed. >> why now? >> the driving thing was the loss of our brother john. >> yeah. >> it was like a wake-up, you know, 'cause i know i'm not getting any younger. these documents could be of significant historical value. and they could also be worth a lot of money. >> you had a big decision to make. >> mm-hmm. >> yeah. >> i just kind of thought they were worth something. um... >> give me a number. what did you think? >> $30,000, $40,000, perhaps. >> dennis didn't pull that number out of a hat. the son of andrew kirksey, the other sailor who died aboard pt-109, sold his grandmother's letter from kennedy. that single letter went for $9,500.

>> we had four. was one worth $9,500 or was it worth $20,000? i mean, we have no idea. >> but dennis and francis are about to learn that authenticating jfk documents for auction is a lot more complicated than they imagined. >> one of the most important things you need to know if you're ever gonna buy a john f. kennedy letter is he's one of the most forged autographs there is. >> is a jfk signature easy or difficult to spot a fake? >> jfk is perhaps the most difficult. >> that's next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question for you. babe ruth is the most forged autograph of all time. what's the most forged outside the sports world? is it neil armstrong, marilyn monroe, or elvis presley? the answer in a moment. think again.

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>> so, what's the most forged signature outside the sports world? it's "c," elvis presley. that's according to psa/dna authentication services. >> for 25 years, dennis harkins keeps an old family heirloom stored away in a safety deposit box -- four letters written to his grandmother, jenny marney, from john f. kennedy, three written by hand before kennedy became president and a fourth typewritten on white house stationery. in 2013, dennis and his brother francis decide it's time to sell. enter bobby livingston of rr auction. he knows anything associated with jfk can fetch big bucks. >> kennedy's a very important figure in american history,

thus collectible. people really related to the kennedy family, and pairs of jacqueline kennedy's shoes sell for $30,000. >> according to livingston, the brothers' jfk letters hold their own unique value. and the reason goes back to that fateful pt-109 mission. >> there are no other letters that we know of from john f. kennedy where he gives his personal account of what happened that night. when someone walks in with john f. kennedy letters, letters that no one has ever seen and never read, we get excited. >> but many a collector has been burned after plunking down a fortune for a newly-discovered document that turns out to be a fake. jfk is ranked by memorabilia dealers as the fourth most-forged non-sports signature on the market after elvis, the beatles, and neil armstrong. so, how does a handwriting authenticator gives his stamp of approval on these letters?

is a jfk signature easy or difficult to spot a fake? >> jfk is perhaps the most difficult. 80% of the process is "does the signature and handwriting match known exemplars?" jfk's handwriting changed so much there was an entire book done in the 1960s just on kennedy's handwriting. >> why would he change his signature? >> his personality changed and his signature changed. and it changed more dramatically than any other president and pretty much most famous people. >> the brothers know the handwritten letters to their grandmother, going back to 1943, must be real. but bob eaton can't just take their word for it. he compares them to a known jfk letter. show me. >> i've got a letter from 1940, which is three years prior. and the similarities -- he

always had a tendency, even later in life, when he made a "t," he would continue. it wouldn't be a short little "t." he also would break words up. >> bob confirms the letters to jenny marney also have jfk's unique "t." but how do you authenticate the one from the white house? the president can't sign every letter by hand. what about that one? how do you tell it's not a secretary? >> most of kennedy's letters from that time period were secretarials and autopens. but he had a bond with this family. >> and this is a real signature? >> that's a real jfk signature. >> you're 100% sure? >> i am 100% -- 110% sure. >> so, how much are they worth? >> we've never seen anything like it from kennedy, so we estimate it to be worth $50,000 or more. >> wow. [ chuckles ] that's a little more than i had thought. >> of course, anything could happen at auction.

>> was your heart palpitating? >> just about out of my chest. >> this is our remarkable rarities auction. >> that's next. ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> for 25 years, dennis harkins has kept his strange inheritance locked away in a safety deposit box -- these four letters written to his grandmother by john f. kennedy after her son harold was killed on pt-109. it's september 18th, 2014, in boston. dennis and his brother francis are ready to sell. a small crowd gathers at a hotel while hundreds more are bidding by phone and online. >> let's start now. this is our remarkable rarities auction. >> we started getting a little excited, maybe some butterflies

as to what is this going to do. >> all right. >> here we go. >> here we go. >> it's a great lot right here. john f. kennedy, pt-109 letters. one-of-a-kind archive of kennedy's letters to the family of his lost crew mate. >> i got $22,000. >> all right. we're starting with a $22,000 bid on the internet. now $23,000. >> remember, the preliminary estimate for all four of dennis and francis' jfk letters was $50k. >> $45,000 on the phone now. $47,500. $55,000, now $60,000. >> they had the auction people there, and they're hoop-dee-doing and hollering and pushing. >> $90,000. $95,000. looking for $100,000. bid $100,000. looking for $100,000. yes. now $110,000. $110,000. now $120,000. $130,000. >> holy cow. >> wow. >> looking for $130,000 now. $140,000? >> but don't hammer the gavel too soon. the bidding's not over. >> $140,000. now $150,000.

$150,000. $160,000 is the high bid on the phone. looking for $170,000. and we'll say fair warning. >> then the final call. >> and this is sold -- $160,000... >> wow. >> ...on the phone. >> wow. >> that's three times more than the brothers had originally hoped for. >> i'm flabbergasted, 'cause it just was amazing to watch it unfold. >> i would hope that the successful bidder enjoys them. perhaps they'll put them in a museum. >> a young man makes the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. that legacy, he left for all of us. the letters his commanding officer and future president writes help lighten his mother's grief and, decades later, become a substantial financial boon for family he never knew -- a strange inheritance indeed.

how hard to part with them? >> it was hard, but it was time. like your old jalopy pickup truck. it's -- you love it, but it's just time to let it go. think it's become time in life to move on. >> dennis' mum always relished her special relationship with john f. kennedy, and she wasn't shy about calling in a favor, even in her later years. family legend has it that when mum retired to connecticut and had trouble receiving her social security benefits, she turned to her friend, now president kennedy, for help. when letters on white house stationery arrived at the local social security office, officials there jumped to fix the problem. and from then on, mum always got her checks on time. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us?

we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. hehehehee results. >> abby: on that note have a good day. >> dagen: the price was not right. new fallout this hour as health and human services secretary tom price resigns over his use of private jets on the taxpayer dime. why someone here fears what this means for those tax cuts. hi, everybody i'm dagen mcdowell this is bulls & bears. tom price the latest in a long list of casualties, and if scott is right, this could be very costly. also here, the bulls & bears, joan as max ferris, and gary b. smith along with stacey washington and adrian elrod. welcome to everybody. scott, why do you fear the fall out from this? >> scott: isn't this too bad