Marilyn Monroe's present to Kennedy - Rolex watch - sells on auction

A gold Rolex watch, thought to have been given to former US president John F Kennedy by Marilyn Monroe, has sold at a US auction for $120,000 (Ј68,000). The actress is said to have presented the gift to Mr Kennedy on the evening she famously serenaded him singing Happy Birthday.

Inscribed with the words "Jack, with love as always from Marilyn, May 29th 1962," it sold in Connecticut.

Monroe was said to have had an affair with Mr Kennedy around this time.

The date on the inscription corresponds with Kennedy's birthday.

The watch was sold with a poem entitled: "A heartfelt plea on your birthday," typed in black on a paper disc placed at the bottom of the gold case containing the watch, BBC says.

It ended with the line: "Let me love or let me die!"

Monroe died of a drug overdose in August 1962 at the age of 36. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963.

The auction was organised by Alexander Autographs, whose spokesman Bill Panagopulos said the watch was given to a top-level Kennedy aide who was instructed by the president to "get rid of it".

The watch's serial number and engraving are appropriate for the time, and the history of the watch had been confirmed by a family member of the aide, Mr Panagopulos said.

T.E.