Chicago, March 6 (IANS) Love letters and telegrams revealing secret romance between former US President John F. Kennedy and a Swedish woman have fetched more than $115,000 in an auction here.

The Legendary Auction in Lansing, which had opened bidding at $25,000 last month for the collection of 11 hand-written letters and three telegrams sent by Kennedy to his Swedish girlfriend Gunilla von Post, has announced the closure of the sale at $115,537.50.

'We had estimated $40,000 to $50,000,' said Doug Allen, president of Legendary Auction. 'We were very pleased to get six figures'.

An anonymous buyer won the online auction with a bid of $97,500. An 18.5 percent buyer's premium was tacked on to come up with the final selling price, Chicago Tribune reported.

The long-distance romance was first made public by Von Post in her book released in 1997. Von Post, 78, revealed that she met Kennedy in August 1953, just a few weeks before he married Jacqueline Bouvier

'I thought I might get a boat and sail around the Mediterranean for two weeks - with you as crew. What do you think?,' JFK wrote in one of the letters dated June 28, 1954.

One of the letters, written in red ink, foreshadows the end of the relationship, which von Post said dissolved around 1956.

It reads: 'I just got word today - that my wife and sister are coming here. It will all be complicated the way I feel now - my Swedish flicka ... All love, Jack'.