BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A pair of gold cuff bracelets by Van Cleef & Arpels, given by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Nina Straight, her step-sister and maid of honor when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953, sold for $162,500 at a public auction Monday. Kennedy Onassis surprised Straight with the bracelets when she served as Straight’s maid of honor 21 years later.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions conducted the sale. Absentee and Internet bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.com.

“The bracelet cuffs matched an identical pair Kennedy Onassis often wore, marked No. 50, of a limited edition set,” said Jill Burgum, senior director of Jewelry at Heritage. “The pair Kennedy Onassis gave to Straight are marked 47 and 48, and it is likely Kennedy Onassis purchased both limited edition sets at the same time and gave Straight the earlier pair.”

The name of winning bidder who paid $162,500 for the pair was not revealed. The cuffs soared past the $30,000 opening bid, and surpassed the price paid for Kennedy Onassis’ bracelet cuffs when they were auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2011 for $128,500.

“Jackie loved hers so much that she bought me a pair knowing I would enjoy them equally,” Straight told Heritage Auctions. “Ours was a very close relationship.”

Heritage Auctions is the largest auction house founded in the United States and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $800 million.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.