Elon Musk's ex-girlfriend auctions items world's richest person gave to her

The lot includes photos of the billionaire Tesla chief and mementos Jennifer Gwynne received from him

A collection of never-before-seen Elon Musk photos and memorabilia from his college sweetheart, Jennifer Gwynne, was auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction. This item was sold for $11,794. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $6,336. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $2,169. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

A collection of never-before-seen Elon Musk photos and memorabilia from his college sweetheart, Jennifer Gwynne, will be auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $1,915. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $2,733. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $7,155. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $1,969. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $9,375. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $5,760. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $21,889. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $1,694. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $3,600. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $1,155. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $2,484. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $7,099. Photo: Courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $1,765. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $51,008. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

A collection of never-before-seen Elon Musk photos and memorabilia from his college sweetheart, Jennifer Gwynne, will be auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $16,643. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

This item sold for $5,625. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

A bundle of Elon Musk-related memorabilia is being auctioned by a former girlfriend, with bids worth thousands of dollars.

Among the items in the RR Auction lot is a signed birthday card given to Jennifer Gwynne in late 1994 by Mr Musk, with 23 bids pushing the value up to $10,001 before the close of bidding on September 15.

The item description states: "Small birthday card with a multicoloured, repeating 'Love You' design on the front, measures 4.5 x 3.25 open, neatly signed and inscribed inside in black ink, 'Happy Birthday, Jennifer (aka, Boo-Boo), Love, Elon.' In very fine condition."

He gave her the card while they were both studying at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla and founder of SpaceX, is the world's wealthiest person. He has a net worth of $262 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, ahead of Jeff Bezos ($157bn) and Gautam Adani ($143bn).

Another item to gain plenty of interest is a 14k gold necklace with a small, green emerald that Mr Musk presented as a birthday gift to Ms Gwynne. Thirty-three bids have taken the auction price up to $5,999 for the item.

Included with the necklace are two original candid photos of Mr Musk and Ms Gwynne — one depicting them standing with his mother, Maye, during a visit to New York City in 1995.

The other photo shows Mr Musk and Ms Gwynne posing with four other resident advisers before an end-of-the-year formal at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.

‘When we went to visit Elon’s mother in Toronto during the Christmas break of 1994, Elon gave me both the small ‘love, love, love’ note and the necklace," Ms Gwynne is quoted as saying in the lot description on the RR Auction website.

"His mom had a number of these necklaces in a case in her bedroom and Elon told me they were from his father’s emerald mine in South Africa — he pulled one from the case. And because I had not gotten him anything as a Christmas gift (and I felt very guilty about that), he said we would consider the necklace an early birthday present for me.

"I wore the necklace for a number of years on and off, but it’s mostly been in my jewellery box for the last 10 years (always reminding me of Elon, of course)."

Other items in the lot include photographs of Mr Musk in his student accommodation.

As reported by The Independent, Ms Gwynne has decided to sell the items to raise money for her stepson’s college tuition fees.

Mr Musk has in recent months been embroiled in a dispute over his $44bn deal to buy Twitter, which he pulled out of.

A trial in Delaware Chancery Court is scheduled to begin on October 17.

RR Auction of Boston recently sold Steve Jobs’ original Apple-1 computer prototype for $677,196.

It was regarded as an example of the computer that started it all, the prototype was hand-soldered by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1976.