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 On Monday, about 200 letters, books and other ephemera from the late
mayor's home in Manhattan's Greenwich Village are going on the
auction block, many grouped in different collections.
Doyle New York has estimated most of them will sell for between $200
and $500.
Koch, who led the city from 1978 to 1989 with a combination of
determination, chutzpah and humor, died in February at age 88. The
brash, opinionated Democrat was credited with helping to save the
city from its 1970s economic crisis and leading it to financial
rebirth.
Among the highlights is a 1992 letter from Ronald Reagan in which
the president tells Koch he "never doubted communism would
eventually fail."
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in a Dec. 9, 1991 letter
to the Jewish politician, discussed anti-Semitism in Croatia and the
state of affairs in Yugoslavia.
There also is a group of letters from U.S. vice presidents in which
Al Gore calls Koch "a great friend" and Dan Quayle writes that "Our
special relationship with Israel must be preserved."
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 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in a thank-you note from
1991, tells Koch: "Your love of life is contagious and you sent
everyone home feeling a happiness and insouciance that does not
happen every day in dear old N.Y.C."
The sale also includes 48 letters from Cardinal John J. O'Connor
written between 1990 and 1999. The two men had a special
relationship and co-wrote "His Eminence and Hizzoner" in 1989. A
signed copy of the book is included with the letters.
In one, O'Connor tells Koch "you are indeed a friend." He also tells
Koch that since he served for 12 years as mayor of New York, "I will
not do it any longer as the Archbishop of New York."
O'Connor died in 2000. He served as archbishop for 16 years.
It is the second installment of Koch material to go on the auction
block. His furniture and artwork were sold at Doyle last week. Among
the highlights was a set of six Frank Lloyd Wright-designed dining
chairs that sold for more than $11,000.
[Associated
Press]
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