Lincoln Artifacts Soaring In Price And Demand

The Voice of America (VOA) website has an interesting report on its website today about the growing interest and prices in Lincoln artifacts. On the webpage I provided, you'll find a link to a video report (at the top of the VOA webpage) from the VOA discussing the recent sale of incredibly rare Lincoln letters and signatures at Sotheby's. I posted about this sale back on April 3, 2008 talking about the one letter which brought $3.4 million! The video report interviews the Sotheby's archivist in charge of the auction, a gentleman who has also appeared on the Antiques Road Show. The owner of the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago is also interviewed. If you ever get a chance to visit the Bookshop, you should do so, as it's an incredible treasure trove of Lincoln books, signatures, photos, and other artifacts. All are for sale and all are extremely expensive. I provide a link to the Bookshop under "Lincoln And History Links."

I can attest to the stunning prices in Lincoln collectibles, although on a far lower scale. In recent weeks on eBay, I've seen a rare carte-de-visite (CDV) photo of Mary Todd Lincoln and two of her sons fetch over $2,300; a Fremont-Lincoln campaign ribbon from 1856 bring $1,7000; and an incredibly rare signed photo of Lincoln sold for an astounding $180,000 (not including the buyer's premium!). Even fairly common Lincoln biographies from the 1860's are now selling easily for more than $150 or so.

No doubt these prices are skyrocketing thanks to growing interest in the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. I can attest to the interest in artifacts about Lincoln thanks to the increasing number of hits on this blog from people searching for information about them. Additionally, I'm a collector of Lincoln items, but certainly not at the level of these prices. I own a copy of the first Lincoln biography (The Wigwam Edition); a complete set of the 1890 10-volume biography of Lincoln written by his private secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay; and some other old and rare books. But to be able to buy the truly rare items I previously mentioned would take far more money than I have to blow on "junk" as my wife calls it. :-)

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Teaming To Bring Lincoln Artifacts To Washington

I've posted several items in recent months about the impending closure of the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The museum has unfortunately suffered from years of declining attendance and Lincoln Financial, the owner and operator of the museum, has said enough. The closure date is in a few days.

Several groups and institutions across the country hope to be the ultimate winner of the "contest" to see who will house this remarkable trove of Lincoln items. Announced today in The Washington Post is a teaming arrangement between The Library of Congress, Ford's Theater, The National Museum of American History (Smithsonian), and The Lincoln Cottage, the former Soldiers' Home in Washington. This arrangement will no doubt provide formidable competition to the other major institutions, such as The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Representatives of this teaming arrangement make the claim that Washington, D.C. is the most logical city to house this priceless collection. After all, Lincoln lived in Washington while president and was of course assassinated and died there as well. Indeed the leader of the group states that no other institution in America can match the visitorship and financial backing of the team in Washington.

The final decision by Lincoln Financial is by January 2009. I'll keep my readers posted.

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Update - Lincoln Letter On Slavery Fetches $3.4 Million!

Back on March 13, 2008 I reported the story about the letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to schoolchildren in Massachusetts in response to their petition for him to end slavery. The letter is beautiful, eloquent, and moving as so much of his writing was. The pre-auction estimate was between 3 and 5 million dollars.

The auction was held today at Sotheby's in New York and fetched an incredible $3.4 million. As usual with these special pieces of history, the bidder remains anonymous, unless of course he or she chooses to reveal his or her identity at some point. One would hope that the new owner will consider putting it on display at some point or even consider donating it to a museum, so everyone can enjoy it.

Also auctioned today was the only known autograph of Abraham Lincoln signed on the day of the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery, November 19, 1863. That autograph sold for an amazing $937,000 to a first time bidder at Sotheby's.

There were other documents signed by Lincoln and other presidents such as Thomas Jefferson which failed to sell. That of course means that the reserve price or opening price was not met.

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Lincoln Letter Could Bring $5 Million At Auction

On April 3rd, Sotheby's auction house in New York, NY is holding an auction of incredible presidential letters and other documents. Apparently, the gem of this auction will be a letter President Lincoln wrote in response to a petition sent to him by Massachusetts school children, pleading with him to free the "little slave children." The petition, titled "Children's Petition to the President asking him to free all the little slave children in this country," was signed by 195 boys and girls and was sent to Lincoln in April 1864.

Lincoln replied at once, on April 5, 1864. In the letter, Lincoln wrote that he had a passionate desire to see the end of slavery, but that he felt he didn't have the power, but that God did. He wrote: "and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it." Eloquent as always.

The image on the right is of the letter. Sotheby's estimates it could bring as much as $5 million, breaking the previous record ($3.1 million) for a Lincoln manuscript or letter. Wow.

Story and photo come from AuburnPub.com of Auburn, New York. Auburn was the home of Lincoln's Secretary of State, William H. Seward.

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