Documents once belonging to slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. are set to be auctioned off, but a spokesman for the King estate says the papers belong to the estate and wants the auction halted.

For nearly 40 years, the collection sat in the basement of a friend of King’s, who claims she got the papers as part of a debt settlement with the now-defunct radio station WERD, which shared the building that housed the King-led Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.

The documents include handwritten notes and typed speeches, letters to and from King, statements and position papers. All the documents are from the early-to-mid-1960s, auction organizers said, but they have not yet been authenticated or appraised, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Atlanta-based Gallery 63 expect the documents to bring at least $250,000 (€187,000) at the April 15 auction. News of this auction comes just months after the King family sold a collection of King’s papers to the city of Atlanta for $32 million (€24 million).

Isaac Newton Farris, president and chief executive officer of the King Center, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he had no idea this latest set of papers existed until Monday. He said he would try to stop the auction.

Posted: 04|3|07 at 4:54 pm. Filed under: US News.