John Reznikoff In The News

University Archives is delighted to announce its next sale, consisting of over 440 lots from all imaginable collecting categories. Our October auction contains the second installment (60+ lots) from The Douglas Wertman Collection, majority political items personally collected and curated by Douglas Wertman, the longtime Secretary of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club. Other exceptional sale items come from the Early America, Literature, Music, Art, Entertainment, Civil Rights, and Sports collecting categories.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 1 is a John Adams signed presentation copy of Jonathan Mayhew’s A Discourse, Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers; with Some Reflections on the Resistance Made to King Charles I (Boston: Re-Printed by Hall & Goss, 1818.) Adams gave this sermon originally published in 1750 to one of his wife’s Quincy relatives, Maria Sophia Quincy. Mayhew’s sermon affirmed and legitimized the concept of political resistance against tyranny, as guided by Romans 13:1-7, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” Just four months earlier, Adams had given another copy of Mayhew’s sermon to his old friend and fellow revolutionary Thomas Jefferson, explaining that it had greatly shaped Adams’s world view as a young college student at Harvard.

Lot 88 is an Abraham Lincoln 1p autograph letter signed, addressed to Pennsylvania Governor Andrew G. Curtain, dated July 25, 1864 from Washington, D.C. In it, Lincoln asked Curtain to forward a thank-you note to a well-wisher who had presented Lincoln with a decorative cane made from wood salvaged from the wreck of the Confederate ironclad ‘U.S.S. Virginia.’ The vessel had fought in the naval Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862 but was scuttled by the Confederates when they evacuated Norfolk, Virginia three months later.

Lot 152 is a George Washington signed three language partial ship’s passport dated February 4, 1796, counter-signed by Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. The safe conduct papers – in English, French, and Dutch – safeguarded Henry Tredick’s brig Drake on its passage from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to the British West Indies, most likely Martinique, which had been wrested from French control two years earlier, and with whom the Americans had secured limited trading rights. The vessel carried various foodstuffs including “Indian corn and meal” as well as lumber and candles.

Lot 152, George Washington DS

Lot 143 is an archive related to Harry Truman and a topic which he rarely discussed: the atomic bomb. The capstone item of the archive of personnel records is a Truman-signed Citation for a Medal of Merit which explicitly refers to the “Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb.” The award was posthumously bestowed on Charles M. May, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission from August 1943 until his death in January 1945. The award praised May’s extraordinary commitment to finding, vetting, and hiring approximately 130,000 civilian workers for the Manhattan Project.

Lot 76 is a Thomas Jefferson signed document, dated November 8, 1791, approving a congressional act granting an extension to the state of South Carolina so that it could complete the U.S. Census of 1790. The census enabled the activation of the 1787 Three-Fifths Compromise – which counted non-whites as 3/5 of a white person – in a state where 43% of the population was enslaved in 1790. Ultimately, South Carolina counted 107,094 enslaved persons, more than the combined amount of free white females and free white males aged 16+. An exact tally of souls in South Carolina carried important ramifications in terms of both taxation and representation. In consequence, South Carolina was allocated seven representatives.

Early America

Lot 266 is a John Hancock signed document, dated January 1, 1776, promoting a New Hampshire minuteman named William Scott to the rank of Captain in the 16th Regiment of Foot. Scott had been wounded multiple times during the Battle of Bunker Hill, refusing to desert his command even though grievously injured, and only removed when he was taken as a war prisoner. Imprisoned in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Scott escaped by digging a tunnel underground using a few rudimentary tools. Shortly thereafter, he escaped imminent capture by the British at Fort Washington by swimming over a mile to the safety of another Patriot fort!

Literature

Lot 366 is a Charles Dickens signed cabinet card portrait photograph autographed on April 20, 1868, the very last day of Dickens’s 1867-1868 American Reading Tour. On this date at New York City’s Steinway Hall, Dickens read selections from “A Christmas Carol” and Pickwick Papers, promising his American audience that he would cherish their memory. Two days later, the incredibly popular novelist and lecturer left for England, never to return again.

Lot 366, Charles Dickens Signed CDV

Lot 380 is an Edgar Allan Poe carte de visite after Mathew Brady as published by Edward Anthony in New York, n.d. but probably early 1860s. Known as the “Ultima Thule” portrait, the original photograph of Poe was taken by Edwin H. Manchester in Providence, Rhode Island just four days after the poet’s suicide attempt in November 1848, and less than one year before Poe’s death under mysterious circumstances at the age of 49. Lot 373 is a rare Nathaniel Hawthorne signed carte de visite.

Entertainment

Lot 302 is a Marilyn Monroe autograph manuscript, n.d., but ca. 1956, being a statement of 130+ words describing her impressions as an “observer student” permitted to audit Lee Strasberg’s acting classes at the Actors Studio. Monroe’s manuscript shows contemporaneous edits and is accompanied by a typed transcription by her publicist Pat Newcomb. The young actress describes a very positive experience at the invitation-only acting school, adding that she hoped she can become a member someday. The starlet was awarded a Lifetime Membership from the Actors Studio in 2023.

Civil Rights

Lot 255 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed, dated January 16, 1964, thanking a California professor for congratulating him on recently being named as TIME magazine’s “Man of the Year” for 1963. As the first black man to receive the honor, King interpreted it as a step in the right direction for the Civil Rights Movement. TIME included a 7-page spread of King within its issue which praised his leadership and influence, but also criticized his appearance and manner.

Lot 255, Martin Luther King, Jr. TLS

Sports

Lot 441 is a Babe Ruth signed newspaper clipping headlined “Babe Takes A New Grip After Signing,” PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The photo caption was probably an illusion to the Sultan of Swat’s ambidexterity: the southpaw wrote with his right hand. Ex-Joseph “Bill” Kahn, Jr.  Another lot from Kahn’s autograph collection is Lot 434, a Lou Gehrig signed card, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded MINT 9.

Marvelous Miscellany

Lot 247 is a remarkable 21st-century artifact: an entrance ticket to the “Top of the World Trade Center Observatories,” located on the 107th Floor of the South Tower, date- and time-stamped September 10, 2001 at 12:16 pm. Less than 24 hours later, both of the Twin Towers had collapsed after being struck by two hijacked passenger airliners.

These are just some of the immensely important and desirable lots available in our October sale.

We hope you can join us online on October 21, 2026!

University Archives is pleased to announce its next online-only sale on September 9, 2026. The auction will include over 400 lots of outstanding historical material ranging from autographs, documents, and archives, to books, photos, artwork, and relics. Major collecting categories include U.S. Presidents, Science, Civil Rights, World Leaders, Early America, Entertainment, Literature, and Music.

We are proud to have been selected to bring The Douglas Wertman Collection to auction. Wertman, the longtime Secretary of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, was a true Collector’s Collector: shrewd, inquisitive, and meticulous. His passion for history, combined with his professional background (including a 3-decades-long tenure at the United States Information Agency), influenced his collecting choices, which are particularly strong in U.S. Presidents, First Ladies, Politics, the Supreme Court, and the Civil War. The Douglas Wertman Collection will be offered in a series of auctions. Each lot was carefully identified, documented, and researched by Wertman, who often acquired contemporary autographs in person.

For more information about Douglas Wertman, click here.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 22 is a presentation photo signed by President Bill Clinton, ca. February 13, 1997, inscribed by him along the bottom margin as: “To the people of Israel – with gratitude for the ties that bind us. Bill Clinton.” PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. The color photo shows Clinton conversing with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House Oval Office, where the pair had met to promote the Hebron Agreement signed the previous month by Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterpart, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. The accord – in which Israel and Palestine agreed to jointly control Hebron, a holy site and mixed settlement in the West Bank – was widely viewed as a step forward in the Middle East peace-making progress.

Lot 22, Bill Clinton SP

Lot 67 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed, dated May 4, 1786 from Paris, France, which the statesman wrote while serving as U.S. Minister to France. In this 2pp letter addressed to Colonel William Stephens Smith, John Adams’s son-in-law, Jefferson fondly remembers his old revolutionary comrade. Jefferson also provides the latest news on The Diamond Necklace Affair: a swindle perpetrated by Jeanne de la Motte, a female forger and thief impersonating Marie Antoinette, which later served as one of many catalysts of the French Revolution.

Lot 142 is a George Washington letter signed, dated May 22, 1779 from military headquarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey. The Commander-in-Chief writes Brigadier General James Clinton regarding preparations for the upcoming Sullivan Expedition, a frontier campaign against the British ally the Iroquois Nation, where the Continentals planned to employ “scorched earth tactics.” Washington addresses supply shortages and clarifies military policy. On the same day and in the same headquarters, Washington’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton also sent out letters in a feverish push to get ready for the important military campaign.

Science

Lot 395 is an Albert Einstein autograph letter in German signed, sent from Berlin, Germany on May 1, 1926 to his close friend and colleague Michele Besso. In the letter, Einstein contends that simple experiments are not sufficient in themselves; instead, they should reveal an underlying order, rational structure, and deeper truth – in short, one of “God’s secrets.” Einstein argues this in the context of rejecting the clumsy investigations of a Swiss chemist named Johann Gottfried Beck, whom Einstein derides as having used “apothecary’s methods.”

Lot 395, Albert Einstein ALS

Lot 398 is a J. Robert Oppenheimer typed letter signed, dated March 14, 1949, and addressed to businessman Joseph Schaffner, copying Albert Einstein and Admiral Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer inquires whether Princeton University’s Institute For Advanced Study should contribute to the Einstein Award – rolled out that very day, on Einstein’s 70th birthday – to subsidize scientists, or whether they desire to donate to another worthy cause, such as to Israeli scholars. The four men – Oppenheimer, Einstein, Strauss, and Schaffner – were tied together professionally and by a love of science, but were separated by significant personal and political divides. Accompanied by a JSA LOA.

Civil Rights

Lot 248 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. signed program from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, presented to a Northern visitor on March 25, 1968, just 10 days before King’s assassination on April 4th. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic, and accompanied by a JSA LOA and detailed provenance information about the original autograph recipient, Ed Zysk of Oakham, Massachusetts. This is probably one of the last autographs King ever presented to a well-wisher before moving on to the infamous Lorraine Hotel.

World Leaders

Lot 355 is an archive of correspondence penned by British military commander Charles George Gordon, who died trying to defend the city of Khartoum, Sudan against Muslim Mahdists in 1884. This impressive group of 55 documents and more than 100pp contains at least 50 Gordon signatures. The archive contains examples from Gordon’s time at Khartoum, before he and approximately 7,000 defenders were slain.

Lot 355, Charles George Gordon Archive

Lot 348 is a Winston Churchill signed George Philip Edition of a monumental map, Dunkirk to Berlin / June, 1940 – July, 1945 / Journeys Undertaken By The Rt. Honble. Winston S. Churchill, O.M., C.H., F.R.S., M.P., / Prime Minister of Great Britain In Defence Of The British Commonwealth And Empire. The mixed geographical and pictorial map shows the 19 destinations to which Churchill traveled during World War II, including in the United States, Iceland, Iran, and Northern Africa, and was published to accompany a 1956 reprint of his war memoirs.

Lot 350 is a Princess Diana autograph letter signed, dated November 27, 1995, one week after Diana had discussed her failed marriage during a controversial royal interview on the British news television program “Panorama.” In this touching letter to a subject named Michael Barratt who had written Diana expressing his support, Diana writes that she hopes she can teach her 13- and 11-year-old sons, Princes William and Harry, to learn how to better communicate with their future partners. Less than one month later, Diana and Charles received a divorce mandate from Queen Elizabeth II.

Entertainment

Lot 289 is a Marilyn Monroe signed early 1946 “Photographic Model Release” signed by her as “Norma Jeane Dougherty,” using the last name of her first husband, James Dougherty, and before the creation of her iconic stage name. PSA/DNA slabbed and graded NM-MT 8, with a companion LOA. The contract between Monroe and photographer Richard C. Miller dates from April 30, 1946, when Monroe was just 19 years old. Photos from this Miller photo shoot show Monroe on the beach, in a swimming pool, and in a ski chalet, further cultivating her Girl-Next-Door image.

Literature

Lot 365 is Ernest Hemingway’s signed Florida driver’s license, quite probably the only one ever issued to him, and dating ca. 1939-1940 from Key West, Florida. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The license lists 907 Whitehead Street as his primary address; today this is the site of the Ernest Hemingway House, a National Historic Landmark. Hemingway lived at 907 Whitehead with his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer during the 1930s, there writing To Have and To Have Not among other works. The driver’s license dates from a very short time period between the passage of Florida’s first driver’s license legislation in 1939, and Hemingway’s move to Cuba in mid-1939.

Music

Lot 277 is an original sketch of John Lennon signed by all four The Beatles bandmates: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The sketch accomplished in blue pen shows Lennon in profile, with a manuscript arrow and caption as “JOHN / BEATLE.” Accompanied by a JSA LOA.

These are just some of the extraordinary lots in our September sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is thrilled to announce its next auction. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Photographs will take place on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. That’s when over 425 items of incredible historical interest will pass the auction block, from Albert Einstein’s heavily-edited handwritten mathematical notes on the United Field Theory, to Ty Cobb’s game-worn baseball cleats from his Philadelphia Athletics days. Collectors, dealers, and institutions can find whatever they’re looking for, whether it be U.S. Presidents, Science, Space/Aviation, Literature, Art, Music, Entertainment, and Sports.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 65 is an Abraham Lincoln signed military appointment dated just one day after his beloved 11-year-old son Willie Lincoln had died of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862 at the White House. The document underscores how the wartime president continued to attend to pressing affairs even as he was deeply grieving. The February 21, 1862 appointment co-signed by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton promoted one Nicholas J. Sappington, a Union soldier from Maryland invalided out of the army, to become “Commissary of Subsistence” at Elmira Prison, since converted into a military draft rendezvous.

Lot 100 is from Jimmy Carter’s personal collection, being a photograph of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, signed by all five, ca. November 4, 1991, upon the occasion of the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. The Five Presidents signed only a limited number of these highly collectible photos, and ours comes from the Estate of Jimmy Carter, one of the signers. Accompanied by an additional COA from John Reznikoff of University Archives and Lucas Pascal of Historical Autographs Gallery.

Lot 100, Five Presidents SP

Lot 47 is a John F. Kennedy autograph manuscript, which the president-elect composed on an airplane traveling from Palm Beach, Florida to New York City, ca. January 4, 1961. JFK’s pencil-written notes appear on the front and back of a Western Union Press telegram sent to him by White House correspondent Merriman Smith. Ideas from this draft – acknowledging the legacy of former U.S. presidents, and outlining what he wanted his administration to symbolize – were integrated into Kennedy’s 9pp presidential inauguration speech draft of just a few weeks later.  Accompanied by provenance from JFK’s personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln as presented to JFK collector Robert L. White.

Sports

Lot 420 is a pair of Ty Cobb game-worn black leather baseball cleats, ca. 1927-1928, dating from the last years of the legendary outfielder’s career, when playing for the Philadelphia Athletics. The size 10 cleats – which show evidence of hard use and weathering – were gifted to a local fireman, and are accompanied by a letter of provenance from his grandson. Comes with a Mears COA issuing a final grade of Authentic.

Lot 297 is a Bruce Lee and Van Williams co-signed program from the 1967 International Karate Championships held in Long Beach, California in July 1967. Bruce Lee and his costar from the 1966-1967 “Green Hornet” television series, Van Williams, autographed the “Demonstrations” page and presented it to the original autograph recipient, the nephew of Ed Parker, founder of American Kenpo Karate. At the competition attended by both Lee and Williams, Lee had awed spectators with a blind-folded demonstration of Chi Sau just weeks after “Green Hornet” had been cancelled on ABC.

Science

Lot 400 is an Albert Einstein 1p manuscript in German, ca. 1940s, continuing his formulation of the United Field Theory. Translated in part: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists…” PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. There are six additional Einstein lots in the July sale, including autograph manuscripts, autograph letters signed, and typed letters signed, containing Theory of Relativity, Unified Field Theory, and Quantum Mechanics content!

Lot 414 is a Nikola Tesla 1p typed letter signed, March 16, 1901, addressed to fellow electrical engineer Robert Ten Eyck Lozier, who had also worked for Thomas Edison. In this letter, Tesla writes excitedly about his hopes for soon establishing wireless telegraphic communication with Europe, just two weeks after securing a $150,000 investment from J. Pierpont Morgan for Tesla’s future wireless transmission station at Wardenclyffe, Long Island. By year’s end, Tesla had lost the wireless race to Italian competitor Guglielmo Marconi.

Lot 414, Nikola Tesla TLS

Literature

Lot 375 is a 2pp autograph manuscript by Henry David Thoreau, sourced from his personal writings and tipped into a limited manuscript edition of The Works of Henry David Thoreau, Vol. I, published in 1906. Thoreau’s handwritten draft of approximately 360 words dates from the ca. 1850s, when the writer was formulating one of his more well-known essays eventually posthumously published as “Life Without Principle.” In the influential essay, Thoreau advocates for living more mindfully even if that means working an unconventional job and earning less.

Art

Lot 292 is a colorful Walt Disney signed Sante Fe & Disneyland Railroad and monorail pass issued to NYC transit authority director Sidney H. Bingham in ca. 1959, granting him free access to the railway for five years as an “honorary Vice-President.” The Sante Fe & Disneyland Railroad was inaugurated at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1955, while the high-tech, German-designed monorail opened in 1959 in conjunction with the rededication of Tomorrowland. PSA/DNA slabbed and graded Mint 9.

Lot 145 is a grouping of 15 Yousuf Karsh signed photographs, large and in full color, professionally mounted and over-matted in Karsh’s Ottawa, Canada studio in the 1990s, and retained in the artist’s personal collection. The majority of the artist-signed photographs were included in Karsh’s “American Legends” series, and feature notables Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston, Mickey Rooney, and others. Ex. Estate of Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh.

Entertainment

Lot 299 is a Marilyn Monroe signed presentation photo from the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes era, originally taken by 20th Century Fox head photographer Frank Powolny, one of Monroe’s favorite photographers. The glamorous yet intimate portrait, black and white on semi-glossy paper, is accompanied by LOAs from both PSA/DNA and Beckett.

Lot 299, Marilyn Monroe SP

Notorious

Lot 199 is a rare Al Capone autograph endorsement incorporating his mugshot! While incarcerated at Alcatraz Penitentiary in ca. 1935, Capone carefully wrote out the publication details of a book, The Story of America in Pictures, which had featured a profile of Capone on p. 367 under the title: “The Gangster Era: Capone.” The item comes with remarkable provenance from E.J. Lloyd, a Warden at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island, and was in the collection of Patterson Smith, rare book dealer and crime historian.

These are just a few of the fascinating pieces offered at our July auction.

We hope you can join us!

Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Photographs will offer tremendous buying opportunities to collectors and institutions alike. Over 425 lots will cross the auction block, including a significant subsection (30+ lots) of Abraham Lincoln material, ranging from Lincoln manuscripts, signed letters and documents; Lincoln photography and works on paper; Lincoln hair and assassination relics; and autographed material from Mary Todd Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. Our June sale will also include Part IV of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, including signed artwork and books presented to and retained in the personal collection of celebrity photographer Yousuf Karsh. Don’t forget to check out U.S. Presidents, Early America, Science, Space/Aviation, Literature, and Art.

Sale highlights include:

U.S. Presidents

Lot 59 is an Abraham Lincoln autograph letter signed, written in Springfield, Illinois on February 16, 1842, and addressed to fellow attorney Garland B. Shelledy. The letter is one of the earliest Lincoln letters ever offered at auction; only two listings of comparably early date have been sold, both for amounts north of $50,000. In the letter, Lincoln advises Shelledy how to present bankruptcy cases in federal court following President John Tyler’s approval of legislation on February 1, 1842. The new law permitted debtors to apply for debt forgiveness following two back-to-back economic panics, and was only in effect for one year.

Lot 84 is a John Wilkes Booth autograph letter signed dated April 4, 1864, during a period when an increasingly radicalized Booth began to crystallize plans to kidnap Lincoln. Booth wrote this 2pp letter to an unmarried female admirer, possibly a romantic interest, from the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, where he had been performing Shakespearean tragedies and contemporary melodramas. Our June auction also includes a Booth annotated scenery list for Richard III dating from ca. 1862, as well as a Laura Keene playbill dating about 10 years before Our American Cousin.

Lot 49 is a John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson signed photograph showing the President and Vice President striding down the White House South Lawn driveway on August 31, 1963, signed by both and presented to Cecil B. Stoughton, the official White House photographer. Dual JFK and LBJ signed photos are extremely scarce, and this one dates just three months before the assassination.

Lot 49, JFK and LBJ SP

Science

Lot 402 is a Francis Crick signed limited edition first offprint of Nature, Vol. 171, from April 25, 1953, signed by Crick and other molecular biologists involved in discovering and mapping DNA. The offprint, which includes three scientific papers including Crick’s co-written “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” was the first public announcement of a DNA model, and includes a diagram of the famous double helix.

Lot 406 is a vintage Underwood & Underwood photograph of Albert Einstein, signed by the physicist in ca. April 1921 and presented to J. Miman, an employee of prominent Japanese manufacturer Okura & Co. Within the decades leading up to World War II, Okura would provide munitions to Imperial Japan. Ironically, Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity would lead to atomic bomb development, which in turn led to the end of the war and the dismantling of the Japanese military infrastructure which autograph seeker J. Miman was a part of.

There are six meteorites in our June sale, representing both lunar and iron types ranging in size from about 80 grams to 800 grams. Present are outstanding examples of Borzya Pallasite, Muonionalusta, Aletai, Agoudal, Gadamis, and Lot 189, a highly collectible Laâyoune 002 lunar meteorite weighing in at approximately 176g. The majority of the specimens come with Space Collective COAs.

Lot 184, Borzya Pallasite meteorite

Literature

Lot 357 is a Jack Kerouac autograph letter signed with outstanding travel and literary content written in Marin County, California on August 16, 1947. In this letter to lifelong friend Edward White, Jr., Jack Kerouac talks about past wanderings through Wyoming and California, and about possible future expeditions aboard a “’round-the-world passenger ship.” Kerouac mentions several real-life inspirations for memorable characters in On the Road, Visions of Cody, and Book of Cody, and reports that he has just completed a 40,000-word screenplay, probably the never-published “Christmas in New York.”

Lot 368 is an Ayn Rand autograph manuscript, being an original leaf, page 409, from her manuscript for Atlas Shrugged. The heavily edited manuscript page features 80 words in Rand’s hand. The page describes Dagny Taggart watching John Galt’s plane take off from Galt’s Gutch in Part III, Chapter II, “The Utopia of Greed.” The manuscript page was saved by Rand’s assistant Barbara Brandon.

Lot 375 is a J.R.R. Tolkien autograph letter signed, dated November 17, 1957, and addressed to a California medical student and Lord of the Rings superfan. In it, Tolkien vehemently denies that there is any underlying symbolism in his beloved trilogy, especially of any political nature, but the writer does admit that Middle-earth races exhibit traits characteristic of their respective peoples: “sloth & stupidity among hobbits, pride and escapism among Elves, grudge and greed in Dwarf-hearts, and folly and wickedness among the ‘Kings of Men,’ and treachery and power-lust even among the ‘Wizards’…”

World Leaders

Lot 346 is a Vladimir Lenin signed document, in his role as Chairman of the Defense Council, written at the Kremlin, Moscow, Soviet Russia on June 20, 1919. Co-signed by Alexander Tsyurupa, People’s Commissar for Food Supplies, the document ordered local authorities in Crimea to redirect cheese and canned fruits to sick children in northern Russia. The directive may have been militarily strategic as well as philanthropic, as Crimea fell before the advancing White Army just three days later.

Civil Rights

Lot 229 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed dated April 27, 1964, addressed to a fellow minister, Reverend Clifton M. Weihe, who had sent King an “Easter Day” message advocating for Negro groups to support the rights of Native Americans. In his response, King heartily agreed with Weihe that Blacks and Native Americans were people of color facing the same struggle against racial discrimination. Throughout the Civil Rights movement, King remained supportive of indigenous people’s rights, lobbying for tribal sovereignty and land protection.

Sports

Lot 280 is a Bruce Lee 3pp autograph letter signed dated ca. August 1964. In it, Lee writes to Bill Evans of Black Belt Magazine about the symbolism of the yin and yang seal of Bruce Lee’s martial arts school, the Jun Gang Fu Institute. To illustrate his point, Lee pens a black and white yin and yang sketch on the first page, explaining that it represents two complementary halves of one whole. Lee continues that the symbol represents a martial artist’s need for an “opponent to complete the other half of a whole.”

Lot 280, Bruce Lee ALS

There is much more to discover in our June auction.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale! Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books, & Photographs features 470+ lots of outstanding historical items from today’s most popular collecting categories. We are proud to present Civil War memorabilia from the collection of Larry Berra, eldest son of baseball legend Yogi Berra, whose rare and important collection consists of signed CDVs, autograph letters signed, signature clips, orders and discharge papers signed by major Union and Confederate generals and naval commanders including (in alphabetical order): Burnside, Doubleday, Farragut, Garfield, Gibbon, Grant, Halleck, Hancock, Hooker, Longstreet, Lyon, Meade, Porter, Rosecrans, Ruggles, Schofield, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas, Warren, and many others. As always, collectors will also be able to find superb historical memorabilia from U.S. Presidents, Early America, Civil Rights, Sports, Music, Science, and Literature, plus Space/Aviation!

U.S. Presidents

Lot 34 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. In this letter written at Monticello on October 17, 1816, Jefferson thanks Henry A.S. Dearborn for sending him an English translation of a scientific work by French agronomist Charles Philibert de Lasteyrie. Originally published in 1811, A Treatise on the Culture, Preparation, History and Analysis of Pastel, or Woad examined the various applications of the Isatis tinctoria plant, traditionally used to produce blue dye.

Lot 45 is an Abraham Lincoln signed partial check, dated February 8, 1861 from Springfield, Illinois, just two days before he left for Washington, D.C. and the presidency. We suspect that the partial check was issued to Lincoln’s gunsmith, Francis E. Payer. A May 15, 1891 Robert Todd Lincoln autograph letter signed accompanying the lot authenticates this Lincoln relic.

Lot 45, Abraham Lincoln signed partial check

Lot 105 is a George Washington free frank signature, PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The cover dated January 5, 1780 was written in Morris Town, New Jersey and addressed to Colonel Stephan Moylan of Colchester, Connecticut, the leader of “Moylan’s Horse,” or the 4th Continental Light Dragoons. Later that year, Moylan’s cavalry was involved in major Revolutionary War engagements at Springfield and Bull’s Ferry.

Early America

Lot 216 is a first edition copy of Joseph Smith, Jr., The Book of Mormon: An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi… (Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, 1830). This early book was printed just two weeks before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally established, and is the only edition where Smith is referred to as an “author” and not a “translator,” as in later editions. A comparable library-owned printing of this 1830 Palmyra edition sold for an industry-record-breaking price of $250,000 (including the buyer’s premium) at our February 18, 2026 sale.

Lot 427 is an autograph document signed and plat map entirely executed in Daniel Boone’s hand, in his role as District Surveyor of Lafayette County, in present-day Kentucky. Boone outlined the extent of landowner Gaddis Winston’s 5,000-acre property on June 25, 1784, the same year the John Filson’s The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke was published. Filson dedicated a large portion of his book promoting Kentucky settlement to Boone, thus becoming the first author to mythologize Boone as the quintessential American frontiersman.

Lot 427, Daniel Boone ADS & Plat Map

Civil Rights

Lot 212 is a Frederick Douglass letter signed, dated March 13, 1893, addressed to Frederick Perry Noble, Secretary of the African Congress. Noble was laying the groundwork for the African Congress which would convene in August 1893 as part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. This week-long symposium exploring African history, language, geography, and sociology eventually attracted 100 black and white speakers and essay entrants from 20 countries, including Douglass himself.

Lot 214 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed addressed to a Midwestern minister named Thomas T. Chapin, leader of the First Presbyterian Church of Morrison, Illinois. The letter dated October 29, 1963 thanked Chapin’s congregation for their monetary contribution to the SCLC, leading King to state optimistically that “this sweltering summer of discontent can be transformed into an invigorating autumn of justice and freedom for all people…” The letter dates from 1963, which was a momentous year in Civil Rights history, marked by King’s incarceration, the Birmingham Woolworth’s sit-in, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, among other landmark events.

Sports

Lot 468 is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ron Perranoski’s personally owned and worn 1965 Dodgers World Series Championship ring. The Balfour 14K gold ring inlaid with a blue stone was consigned to us by Ron’s longtime girlfriend and Attorney-in-Fact. Perranoski was one of the Dodgers’ most talented pitchers in the bullpen, helping to secure the team’s win against the Minnesota Twins.

Lot 468, Ron Perranoski’s 1965 Dodgers World Championship Ring

Music

Lot 244 is a vintage black and white photograph of The Beatles taken by Dezo Hoffman, signed by all four bandmates during their first trip to the United States in February 1964. The signed photo was acquired by editor of Cashbox Magazine Marty Ostrow around the same time The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show, effectively launching Beatlemania. This very desirable example of a “first visit” autograph is accompanied by an attestation provided by musicologist Frank Caiazzo. Collectors should also check out Lot 245, a PSA/DNA certified authentic John Lennon signature.

Lot 247 is a Bob Dylan handwritten set of song lyrics for “Wiggle Wiggle,” the opening tract of his 27th studio album, Under the Red Sky. Dylan has inscribed 220+ words of what appears to be an early version of the song lyrics. PSA/DNA certified authentic. Dylanites might also be interested in Lot 246, a PSA/DNA certified authentic Dylan signed postcard showing him performing.

Science

Lot 447 is an Albert Einstein autograph manuscript in German featuring over 12 mathematical equations. The manuscript truly demonstrates Einstein’s working process, both through numerous rewrites, cross-outs, and edits, but also through its step-by-step premises and conclusions. Einstein’s manuscript, which is PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic, is part of the physicist’s ongoing attempt in the 1940s to fully articulate his Unified Field Theory.

Literature

Lot 424 is a J.D. Salinger typed letter signed accompanied by its original enclosure, an unpublished typed draft of Salinger’s proposed dust jacket copy for his upcoming book, Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters, together comprising 360+ typed words with two hand-corrections. In this September 9, 1962 letter to Little, Brown, and Company editor-in-chief Ned Bradford, Salinger refers by name to all three of his most famous works – The Catcher In The Rye, Franny & Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters – and describes the Glass Family, some of his most memorable literary characters.

These are just a few lots in our exciting May sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale. Our March auction will feature 45+ lots related to Space (Mercury through the Space Shuttle) and 25+ lots dedicated to Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Hornet, etc.)  It will also include Part II of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, encompassing several dealer’s lots of large-scale photographic prints of celebrity subjects which were exhibited around the world in 1988 and later retained in Yousuf Karsh’s personal collection. Buyers and collectors will also be able to find rare and superb historical memorabilia from other collecting categories as well, including U.S. Presidents, Science, Notables, Art, World Leaders, and more.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 40 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed mentioning not only the University of Virginia (of which Jefferson would prove an invaluable patron and donor), but also referring to Jefferson’s Enlightenment beliefs in human excellence. The former President thanked his correspondent, Major John Michael O’Connor, on May 16, 1824 from Monticello, for having given him a textbook on military theory entitled A Treatise on the Science of War and Fortifications. Jefferson promised that he would donate the book to the university library, for the edification of future students and citizens of the Republic. In addition to this autograph letter signed by Jefferson, there are also two documents signed by Jefferson in the March sale: one a signed transmission of an Act of Congress; and one a signed Revolutionary War-dated death warrant.

Lot 40, Thomas Jefferson ALS

Lot 142 is a George Washington signed Revolutionary War discharge paper and Badge of Merit certificate awarded to Anthony Parcell, a drummer in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment, after “Six Years of faithful Service.” Washington, in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, confirmed Parcell’s official discharge on June 5, 1783. The Badge of Merit was granted to soldiers who exhibited exceptional gallantry or fidelity. We also have a George Washington free frank, accompanied by Washington’s personal wax seal, in the March sale.

Science

Lot 425 is an Albert Einstein autograph letter signed in German, dated September 17, 1927, addressed to his frequent correspondent and collaborator, Dr. Chaim Herman Müntz. The letter with nine equations explores the relationship between the radius, mass, and volume of spherical objects, both large and small, and how they react to different forces. The discussion of whether electrons and planets behaved differently from each other related to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, now in a fully mature state of articulation.

Lot 429 is a Sigmund Freud signed photograph showing the psychoanalyst holding a cigar, in what is perhaps his most iconic portrait. The photographer, Max Halberstadt, was also Freud’s son-in-law. The portrait was taken in 1921, the year after Freud’s daughter (and Max’s wife) Sophie Freud Halberstadt died of the Spanish Flu. March will include several Freud inscribed calling cards and envelopes, as well as an Anna Freud typed letter signed.

Notables

Lot 247 is a Meyer Lansky owned Vacheron Constantin wristwatch, extensively photo-identified, and sourced directly from the family of the “Mob Accountant.” The timepiece, with its 18K gold watch face and black leather strap, was gifted by Lansky to his grandson, Gary Rapoport, on the latter’s 21st birthday on June 3, 1976. The wristwatch is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity as well as a 2018 estate family appraisal.

Art

Lot 177 is a dealer’s lot of 40 silver gelatin bleed mounted photographs originally taken by Yousuf Karsh for inclusion in a 1988 retrospective at London’s Barbican Gallery organized by the International Center for Photography. The lot includes large-scale black and white photographic prints of celebrities, including the Apollo 11 astronauts, Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali, and other sitters, each measuring 19.75″ x 23.75.” Karsh reduced the photos in size and mounted them for the worldwide exhibit, and afterwards, they were retained in his personal collection. The lot includes an Estrellita Karsh Estate Certificate of Authenticity. The March sale includes other dealer’s lots of Karsh photographic prints, as well as original artwork, correspondence, and signed books/exhibit catalogs, from Part II of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate.

Lot 177, Yousuf Karsh Photographs

Comics

Lot 163 is a vintage issue of DC Comics, Superman, No. 12 (September-October 1941), encapsulated and graded by CGC with a Universal Grade 6.5. This is one of 25+ lots in our March sale featuring Golden Age comic superheroes Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and others, offered singularly and in dealer’s lots.

World Leaders

Lot 353 is a vintage photograph of Mohandas Gandhi, double-signed by him in both Hindi and English. The signed photo is PSA/DNA slabbed and graded NM-MT 8, and comes with provenance from Kanu Gandhi, the Mahatma’s second cousin once removed, who served as his staffer and official photographer from 1938-1948. Collectors will also find an 1889 autograph letter signed by Gandhi in our March sale – the earliest example that we’ve ever handled.

Entertainment

Lot 305 is a first edition copy of Pete Martin, Will Acting Spoil Marilyn Monroe? (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1956), boldly signed by Marilyn Monroe on the front free endpaper. Monroe’s signature measures 4.5” in length alone! The illustrated volume, which is arguably the closest thing to an autobiography published during Monroe’s lifetime, is based on interviews. This is the first of its kind signed by Monroe offered at auction in over 50 years! Our March sale also includes a Monroe signed photograph dating from the “Some Like It Hot” film premiere in New York City; a Monroe signed check; and several pages of “The Misfits” revision script pages personally owned by Monroe.

Lot 305, Marilyn Monroe SB

Early America

Lot 270 is a Huntington Printing of the Declaration of Independence, by engraver Eleazer Huntington of Hartford, Connecticut, ca. 1820-1824. The handsome broadside shows the exact text of the foundational document as well as the signers’ signatures in exact facsimile. It represents one of the earliest broadside reproductions of the Declaration of Independence.

Lot 391 is a James Bowie clipped signature, PSA/DNA encapsulated and graded MINT 9 – the highest ever graded example. Bowie’s autographs are excessively rare, even notwithstanding his premature death defending the Alamo in March 1836.

Space

Lot 204 is an Apollo 11 fireproof Beta cloth bearing the Apollo 11 mission emblem, signed by all three crewmembers, and pre-certified by space expert Steve Zarelli.

Sports

Lot 444 is a Babe Ruth signed autograph album page accompanied by a University Archives Certificate of Authenticity. It could grade very high, possibly even a 10!

These are just some of the outstanding items in our March sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale! February will include outstanding items from highlighted collections, like the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, and the Presidential Collection of a Midwestern Gentleman.

We will also feature two important collecting categories: Abraham Lincoln (40+ lots) and Space (50+ lots). As always, though, collectors will be able to find rare and superb historical memorabilia from other collecting categories as well, including Early America, Space/Aviation, Science, Music, Military, Literature, Art, and more.

Part I of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate includes pristine photographic prints from Yousuf Karsh’s personal collection, as well as items related to Karsh’s photography subjects and fellow photographers. This collection – monumental in quality as well as scope – will be offered over the course of several sales, beginning with 25 lots in our February sale.

Part I of the Presidential Collection of a Midwestern Gentleman includes presidential autographs from John Quincy Adams through Ronald Reagan.

U.S. Presidents

40+ lots of the February sale are dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, the Lincoln assassination, and conspirators.

Lot 58 is an Abraham Lincoln autograph letter signed dated May 6, 1865, just a few months into Lincoln’s presidency, requesting a Pension Office clerkship for one Albert I. Brooks. The letter is addressed to Joseph H. Barrett, the Commissioner of Pensions whom Lincoln himself had nominated in early April and appointed in mid-April. The letter illustrates the contractual nature of politics, for Barrett had been an 1860 Republican National Convention delegate and would write both election and reelection campaign biographies for Lincoln.

Lot 58, Abraham Lincoln ALS

Lot 96 is a Mary Todd Lincoln letter signed dated on the 1-month anniversary of her husband’s death, May 15, 1861, recommending a White House groundskeeper for a Treasury Department position. Mary Todd Lincoln holographic material dating from the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination is practically unheard of; this letter was not featured in the authoritative 1972 Turner & Turner biography of Lincoln. Only one other Mary Todd Lincoln ALS dating from this 6-week period has been offered at auction in the last 25 years, and that one sold for over $24,000. We have three other Mary Todd Lincoln letters in our February auction.

Lot 131 is a George Washington signed letter written in Fishkill, New York on November 29, 1778 in the middle of a harsh winter. Washington sent the letter to Major John Bigelow, Superintendent of Clothing for Connecticut Continental troops, asking him to send any surplus clothing to him at Fishkill, and paying careful attention not to cut up any strouds (coarse woolen cloth) into blankets. Bigelow, who had previously served at Fort Ticonderoga under Benedict Arnold, had been contacted earlier by Washington’s aide-de-camp Colonel Alexander Hamilton for information about supplies.

Lot 41 is a Thomas Jefferson signed copy of a foundational congressional act, “An Act supplementary to the Act, intituled, ‘An Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United States,” approved on March 2, 1791 in Philadelphia. This Act, along with a related Act passed a week earlier, comprised the Bank Bill of 1791, which established the First Bank of the United States. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, strongly disapproved of the idea of a centralized bank – a cornerstone of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist agenda.

Lot 24 is a Millard Fillmore signed E. & H.T. Anthony after Mathew Brady carte de visite, signed and dated by him as: “Millard Fillmore, 1867.” Accompanied by a PSA/DNA COA. Millard Fillmore signed CDVs are exceptionally rare presidential collectibles.

Early America – Lot 246 is a first edition Joseph Smith, Jr. “The Book of Mormon: An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi…” (Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, 1830), with exciting ownership signatures on the free front endpaper, as well as an ex-libris blind-stamp from a Logan, Utah institution. This early book was printed just two weeks before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally established, and is the only edition where Smith is referred to as an “author” and not a “translator,” as in later editions.

Space

Attention, Space collectors! 50+ lots of the February sale are dedicated to Space, documenting the X-15, M.O.L., Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs.

Lot 165 is an official U.S. Air Force photograph signed by eight astronaut participants of the M.O.L. “Manned Orbiting Laboratory” program. Pre-certified by Steve Zarelli.

Lot 177 is a Yousuf Karsh original photographic print of all three Apollo 11 crewmembers, signed by all of them, and dedicated to the photographer as “With the Best Wishes of Apollo 11.” Karsh too has signed the photograph. It was retained in Karsh’s personal collection until his death in 2002, passed on to his wife Estrellita Karsh, and passed on to a Co-Executor in 2025. With an estate label and Karsh Estate COA. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Zarelli Space Authentication.

Lot 177, Apollo 11 & Yousuf Karsh SP

Science

Lot 400 is an Albert Einstein autograph manuscript in German, being a page from a larger work formalizing the physicist’s concept of Unified Field Theory. The sheet includes no fewer than 13 mathematical equations, and discusses Reimann structure and tensors. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic.

Lot 401 is a first edition limited edition copy of ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (Evanston: The Library of Living Philosophers, 1949), signed and dated by Albert Einstein on the limitation page, and also signed by Yousuf Karsh below the frontispiece. The book features Karsh’s iconic portrait of Einstein taken at Princeton the year before. Accompanied by a calling card signed by the editor as “P.A.S.” and providing an outstanding chain of custody.

Music

Lot 286 is a John Lennon signed and annotated 8pp typed transcription of an oral interview which he and Yoko Ono gave on August 31, 1971 in preparation for the Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld musical biography Apple to the Core (1972). Lennon has added 12 separate manuscript notes on 5 of the 8 pages. His frank assessment of the Beatles breakup, managerial mismanagement, and personality conflicts are nothing short of confessional. Here you’ll find Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Brian Epstein, and Allen Klein, along with great musical content.

Lot 286, John Lennon TDS

Military

Lot 322 is a hugely important Horatio Nelson autograph letter signed dated October 9, 1801, just a week after the preliminary signing of the Treaty of Amiens, which effectively ended the War of the Second Coalition. In this letter to his former naval commander Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, Nelson rejoiced at the “good news of the Ratification of the Peace…” Although the Treaty of Amiens would end the War of the Second Coalition as well as the French Revolutionary Wars, it would set the stage for the long and bloody Napoleonic Wars.

These are some of the exciting rarities which will cross the auction block on February 18, 2026.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its last sale of 2025 this past week: Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books included 497 lots of exceptional historical material from all the major collecting categories. It also showcased items from Part I of A Superb Space Collection (40+ lots) and Part III of A Top-Notch Collection (40+ lots). The auction attracted a terrific turnout, with the most online bidders by country coming from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Belgium. Our sale items received over 30,000 lot views on just one of our online platforms on auction day alone!

Some of our November 19, 2025 sale highlights included:

U.S. Presidents

Lot 159 was a vintage Spaulding No. 1 baseball signed by President Woodrow Wilson, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, House Speaker Champ Clark, and a handful of U.S. Congressmen, originally sold at a World War I fundraising benefit auction hosted by the Red Cross, ca. 1917-1918, from the collection of Steven Forbes and accompanied by a PSA/DNA LOA. The baseball crossed the mound (auction block!) for $34,375 including the buyer’s premium, which was more than 30% higher than the high estimate.

Lot 68 was a Thomas Jefferson signed free frank addressed to American engineer Robert Fulton on March 20, [1810], PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. The original transmittal letter contained within the cover discussed Fulton’s work on hydraulic rams and torpedoes. The item garnered over 50% above the high estimate, or $9,375 including the tip.

Lot 42 was a James A. Garfield 3pp autograph letter signed dated February 16, 1866. In this communication with a friend, Garfield expressed his opinion that the “Restoration of Rebel States” should be contingent upon strict conditions, demonstrating a transition from holding moderate Republican views to embracing new Radical Republican policies. The letter exchanged hands for double the high estimate, or $1,600 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 42, James A. Garfield ALS

Lot 73 was a Jackie Kennedy signed and inscribed presentation copy of John F. Kennedy’s The Strategy of Peace (New York: Harper & Row, 1960), gifted to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s daughter, Margaret, and her husband-to-be Barry Carter, on their wedding day in September 1966. The deluxe limited edition book embossed with the bride’s and groom’s initials sold for more than twice its high estimate, or $3,750 including commissions.

Science & Space

Lot 455 was an autograph manuscript penned by Sir Isaac Newton, ca. 1690s-1710s, featuring over 350 words in his hand. In it, Newton posits that immutable divine law is “revealed” while ephemeral human laws are “invented.” Newton’s manuscripts with religious content are scarce in private hands, and this manuscript sold to an overseas collector for 40% over its high estimate, or $87,500 including the tip.

Runaways from Part I of A Superb Space Collection included Lot 194, an official NASA photo of Apollo XI crew members Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, uninscribed and signed by each, with a pre-cert provided by Zarelli Space Authentication. The item sold for well over its high estimate, or for $8,125 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 194, Apollo XI SP

Lot 221 was a postal cover signed by all members of NASA Group 1, or the Mercury 7, including M. Scott Carpenter; L. Gordon Cooper; John H. Glenn, Jr.; Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom; Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; and Donald “Deke” K. Slayton. The cover was postmarked from Houston on July 17, 1962, the day of X-15 Flight 62, a sub-orbital space test flight conducted by fellow astronaut Robert M. White. The Space relic sold for 40% over its high estimate, or for $3,000 including the tip.

Art & Literature

Lot 175 was a Pablo Picasso autograph letter signed in French, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. Picasso’s letter in striking blood-red was written to his financial advisor, Max Pellequer, from Cannes, France on August 22, 1959. The letter dates from the period when Picasso began his Manet cycle: about 200 paintings, drawings, linoleum cuts, and maquettes inspired by Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe [Luncheon On The Grass]. The item maxed out its high estimate, selling for $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 418 was an Edgar Allan Poe carte de visite featured in Mathew Brady’s National Portrait Gallery, as published by E. Anthony in New York City in 1861, over a decade after the poet’s mysterious premature death. Exceptionally rare and possibly unique in format, the Poe CDV sold for four times its high estimate, or $20,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 418, Edgar Allan Poe Brady CDV

Lot 162 was a dealer’s lot of autographed material and original drawings by comic strip artists and voice actors such as Brad Anderson, Mel Blanc, Dik Browne, Johnny Hart, Hank Ketcham, and Dean Young. The wonderful collection of tributes to Dennis the Menace, Hagar The Horrible, Marmaduke, the Dumstead Family, and Bugs Bunny sold for $3,072 including the buyer’s premium – over 8 times its high estimate!

These are just a few of the incredible items which University Archives offered in its November sale, and routinely offers at its regularly scheduled auctions throughout the year.

We hope you can join us at our next auction, tentatively scheduled for January 7, 2026!

University Archives held its October auction, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books, at our company headquarters in Wilton, CT. As we do not accommodate an on-site audience, only University Archives employees physically attended the auction: John Reznikoff, auctioneer; and various staff executing absentee bids, communicating with phone bidders, and clerking the sale. Yet, nearly 700 bidders from 60+ countries were also “in the room” with us virtually, tuning in live on auction day. We’re always glad to welcome participants across multiple online platforms including our website, Invaluable, AuctionZip, and LiveAuctioneers.

Over the course of the 6-hour-long sale, U.S. Presidents, Space, and Military categories performed exceptionally well as usual. Trends to watch? Art and Early America.

Some of the highlights of our October auction included:

U.S. Presidents & Landmarks

Lot 135 was a printed copy of Public Resolution No. 1 of the 65th U.S. Congress declaring war on Imperial Germany, dated April 6, 1917, and signed by President Woodrow Wilson, Vice President Thomas Marshall, and House Speaker Champ Clarke. This remarkable signed war declaration exceeded its high estimate by 30%, garnering $62,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 57 was an Abraham Lincoln-owned architecture book, Samuel Sloan’s The Model Architect: A Series of Original Designs for Cottages, Villas, Suburban Residences, Etc. The book was  inscribed on the flyleaf as: “Hon. A. Lincoln / President of the United States / With kind regards Of the Author. / Phil’a Nov. 8, 1861.” Widowed First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln gifted the volume to a Chicago carpenter named Munson D. Dean in April 1867, two years after the assassination. The volume sold for 30% over its high estimate, or $8,750 including the tip.

Lot 338 was an elegant Tiffany & Co. engraved invitation to attend the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe’s Island, New York Harbor, on October 28, 1886. This charming example sold for over 200% of its high estimate, or $4,375 including the tip.

Lot 338, Statue of Liberty Inauguration Invitation

Art

Lot 153 was an original Pablo Picasso metal etching plate for “Pour Roby (L’Age de Soleil).” The plate depicts the head of Picasso’s friend Robert J. Godet, whose 1950 self-published book “L’Age de Soleil” featured this and other Picasso prints. The etching plate sold for 20% over its high estimate, or $12,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 147 was a Robert Indiana signed original black marker sketch of the pop art theme which made him famous: the stacked letters of the word “LOVE,” with the “O” slightly slanted. The signed drawing sold for over 10 times the high estimate, or $6,080 including the tip!

Civil Rights

Lot 236 was a 1p manuscript document signed with remarkable Civil Rights and Early America content. Petitioner Robert Borden of Tiverton, Massachusetts Bay asked the Court of General Sessions, ca. October 1728, to authorize him to rent out or send to sea his recalcitrant “Indian servant boy named Job” who had run away “near or all out one hundred times.” The document underscoring the enslavement and indentured servitude of indigenous peoples during the colonial period sold for $5,312 including the buyer’s premium, which was over 10 times its high estimate.

Lot 236, Detail, MDS Regarding Runaway Native American Servant

Lot 232 was a first edition presentation copy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last published book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos Or Community? dedicated to Harper & Row Publishers president Cass Canfield, with MLK’s “respect and admiration.” This important autographed volume sold for over 30% over its high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

World Leaders

Lot 347 was a Napoleon Bonaparte signed letter in French, dated May 7, 1808, directing a financier to chastise the Governor of Dalmatia (modern day Croatia) for failing to prioritize meeting his soldiers’ payroll. The document is classic Napoleon: brusque, commanding, and pragmatic. The Napoleon signed letter sold for nearly double its high estimate, or $5,937 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 362 was a bilingual English and Hawaiian land grant signed by King Kamehameha III of the Hawaiian Islands, dated September 3, 1847. It granted 1 12/100 acres of land to a native-born Hawaiian named Kamakea in the valley district of Manoa, where many of Oahu’s first sugarcane and coffee plantations were first cultivated. The royal signed document sold for $6,875 including the buyer’s premium, or nearly triple its high estimate.

Military

Lot 344 was a photograph signed by 18 members of the “Band of Brothers”: veterans of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, including commander Dick Winters. The photograph shows the unit celebrating the capture of Adolf Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” in the Bavarian Alps. The signed photo sold for $9,375 including the buyer’s premium – a company high record for the same item.

Lot 344, “Band of Brothers” Signed Photo

Science & Space

Lot 420 was an autograph letter signed by R.L. Thompson of Northampton, England, addressed to American inventor Thomas Edison, dated February 15, 1904, inquiring whether Edison believed the next 50 years would see the same rate of scientific progress. Edison’s terse yet affirmative reply – “Yes / Edison” – is found at upper left. The letter sold for more than 4 times its high estimate, or $3,250 including the tip.

Lot 171 was an Apollo 11 First Day of Issue cover signed by all three crew members of the historic space flight, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded NM-MT 8. The space collectible exchanged hands for $4,687 including the buyer’s premium, or more than double its high estimate.

These are just some of the fun and fascinating lots that we offered in our October sale.

Our next auction is tentatively planned for November 19, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its last auction of the summer on August 27, 2025. Neither last-minute summer travel plans nor back-to-school preparations interfered with the auction proceedings. Hundreds watched – and thousands of absentee bids were executed – during six frenzied hours of online, absentee, and phone bidding. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books featured Part I of a Top-Notch Collection, comprised of several hundred largely unreserved lots from a California connoisseur. Items from this sophisticated collection were acquired from Charles Hamilton, Joe Rubinfine, Kenneth Rendell, and other legendary dealers. Regulars and newcomers, look out for Part II of a Top-Notch Collection, coming your way in our next auction tentatively scheduled for October 8, 2025.

Music, U.S. Presidents, U.S. Politics, Science, and World Leaders categories performed extremely well in our August sale. These are some highlights.

Music

Lot 255 was Bob Dylan’s handwritten and signed lyrics to “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” a song featured in his 1963 second studio album. Dylan has inscribed all five stanzas of the song on a sheet of Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica stationery from Oslo, Norway, ca. 2013. The lyrics, accompanied by a COA from Dylan’s manager Jeff Rosen, sold for $53,125 including the buyer’s premium, reaching well above the high estimate. Dylan lyrics are scarce: between 2018 and 2025, University Archives has handled less than ten Dylan signed and handwritten lyrics. These included: “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” “Blowing In the Wind,” “Tangled Up In Blue,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The lyrics have sold between $30,000 – $110,000 depending on the song.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 127 was a George Washington signed letter dated February 20, 1790, addressed to a state governor, possibly North Carolina state governor Alexander Martin. In it, President Washington transmitted an Act of Congress regarding import laws, shipping procedure, and tax collection districts in North Carolina. The letter featuring a gorgeous presidential signature exceeded the high estimate, exchanging hands for $46,875 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 83 was Volume I of Washington Irving’s 5-part biography, Life of George Washington (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1860), personally owned and signed by future First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln sometime in 1860, when her husband announced his intention to run on the Republican Party presidential ticket following the success of his Cooper Union speech. Ex- Lincoln Family Library; Louise and Barry Taper Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The Lincoln autographed volume sold for 30% over the high estimate, or $11,250 including the tip.

U.S. Politics

Lot 285 was an extraordinary illustrated journal kept by an unidentified author/artist, ca. 1862-1864, satirizing Civil War-era politicians, military commanders, literary figures, activists, and entertainers. Featuring 50+ original vividly hand-colored drawings, the 98pp journal commenting on the Emancipation Proclamation, Republican politics, fiscal policy, and other social issues sold for over the high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 285, Detail, Civil War-Era Illustrated Journal

Lot 244 was a manuscript document signed by James Wilson, Robert Morris, Timothy Pickering, and other important Philadelphia merchants, ca. January – May 1795, being a subscription list pledging money for road construction. The civic-minded subscribers pledged in amounts ranging from £2 to £10 to build an extension of the North Road, a 70-mile stretch from Mt. Pocono to the New York State line. The signed document sold for $20,000 including the buyer’s premium – more than double the high estimate.

Science

Lot 425 was a 2pp autograph letter signed by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, dated December 3, 1856, being a recommendation letter for his Cambridge University friend, Isaac Taylor, Anglican canon at York. This letter, highlighting an interesting intersection between Science and Religion, garnered over its high estimate, selling for $12,500 including the tip.

Lot 416 was a 1p typed letter signed by Thomas Edison, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded Gem Mint 10. The letter includes one of the most superb signatures we’ve seen, featuring Edison’s unmistakable umbrella paraph. The Edison signed letter sold for $2,375 including the buyer’s premium.

World Leaders

Lot 107 was a 2pp autograph letter signed by Queen Lili’uokalani, the last sovereign of the Kamehameha dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawaii, dated November 19, 1903, from Washington, D.C. In the letter addressed to her business agent Joseph Oliver Carter, Queen Lili’uokalani mentioned that Prince Kalaniana’ole had enjoyed a cordial meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt. Queen Lili’uokalani was in Washington, D.C. unsuccessfully lobbying the U.S. government to restore her government. This remarkable letter sold for 70% over the high estimate, or $8,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 107, Queen Lili’uokalani ALS

Lot 244 was a 2pp autograph letter signed by a 16-year-old Princess Elizabeth, future Queen Elizabeth II, dated April 18, 1943. In it, Elizabeth praised members of the 4th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, whom the Princess had reviewed a few days before in what was her first solo royal appearance. The letter sold for over five times its high estimate, or $3,250 including the tip.

These were just a few of the spectacular lots offered in our August sale.

Our next auction is tentatively scheduled for October 8, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its mid-summer sale this past week. Rare Autographs, Books, Lincoln & Space Items attracted bidders from multiple online platforms, as well as many absentee and phone bidders. Substantial interest in Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln autographed items resulted in intensely competitive bidding. Once again, our Space category performed extremely well, putting us on the radar of enthusiastic European collectors. In general, the overage in this sale was incredible; we are so pleased for our many consignors. Another dazzling array of historically significant items will be offered in our late-summer sale, tentatively scheduled for August 27, 2025.

U.S. Presidents

Over 30 lots in the sale related to Abraham Lincoln: his family, his legal career, his presidency, his assassination and its aftermath, and his political and historical legacy. Lincolniana collectors delighted in the autographed material, ephemera, and pictorial representations of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, Willie Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Boston Corbett, and David Hunter, head of the Lincoln conspirator military tribunal.

Lot 66 was a 1p autograph letter signed by Abraham Lincoln dated March 29, 1861, just a few weeks after Lincoln assumed the presidency. In it, Lincoln requested that Hiram Barney – his nominee for the lucrative post of Collector of Customs for the District of New York – come to Washington, D.C. Lincoln wanted to discuss the “New-York card” – the slate of highly coveted political appointments in New York City. The Lincoln ALS surpassed its high estimate, selling for $28,125 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 66, Abraham Lincoln ALS

Lot 71 was an autograph endorsement by Abraham Lincoln dated August 1, 1862 approving a wartime petition. 31 prominent New Yorkers – including Union General Daniel E. Sickles and newspaper editor Horace Greeley – urged Lincoln to appoint one Lewis Leland, a hotel clerk at the Metropolitan Hotel, as an emergency Commissary of Subsistence. The presidential approval co-signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton sold for $16,250 including the tip, which was 40% above its high estimate.

Lot 89 was a 4pp autograph letter signed by Boston Corbett, the Union officer dubbed “Lincoln’s Avenger.” Corbett wrote this letter to a friend on May 13, 1865, just a few weeks after Corbett had fatally shot John Wilkes Booth in a barn in Port Royal, Virginia. The letter contains no fewer than three references to Booth. Corbett boasts about appearing at a Sanitation Commission Fair with the Booth-slaying revolver, and speculates about when he will receive the reward. This remarkable letter easily surpassed its high estimate. It sold for $16,250 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 43 was a 1p autograph letter signed by Thomas Jefferson dated August 30, 1807. The president wrote to James Oldham, a master carpenter from Monticello, requesting a deferment of payment. Jefferson, who had commissioned both cabinet furniture as well as structural additions at Monticello, sweetened the delay with flattery, writing in part: “I learn always with real pleasure that you meet with the employment which your skill & industry merit.” The letter sold for 40% above its high estimate, or $17,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Military

Lot 283 was a riveting archive of 54 items relating to two prominent Loyalists, Nathan Ray Thomas of Marshfield, Massachusetts and William Lawrence of Newtown, Long Island. The collection containing 20 letters, 33 receipts, and one contemporary newspaper, ca. 1758-1822. The most interesting material was dated 1783-1784, and treated the political refugees’ emigration to Nova Scotia. The lot sold for over 7 times its high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 237 was a partly printed and partly manuscript document signed by Union General David Hunter in Port Royal, South Carolina on August 22, 1862, his last day serving as Commander of the Department of the South. The document proclaimed that the former enslaved person named Jupiter Jamison is proclaimed “forever free” – along with his wife, children, and mother. Hunter’s dismissal from his post was in part due to his premature emancipation of enslaved people from areas that the Union Army had liberated, months prior to President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The only copy of a Hunter-signed manumission document believed to be in private hands sold for over 3 times its high estimate, or $20,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 237, David Hunter DS

Early America

Lot 273 was a rare free frank signed by Patrick Henry as “P. Henry.” The postal cover was addressed to James McGavock, an Irish-born Patriot and signer of the January 20, 1775 Fincastle Resolutions, which affirmed a boycott of British goods. McGavock – along with other Patriots in western Virginia – proclaimed that they were “resolutely determined never to surrender… to any power upon earth, but at the expense of (their) lives.” This was two months before Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech! The desirable Revolutionary War collectible sold for 3 times its high estimate, or $5,625 including the commission.

Science

Lot 427 was a 3” long segment of graphite which once secured a uranium sample in Enrico Fermi’s nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-I. CP-I was the site of the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, first tested in early December 1942. The Atomic Age relic – with associations to the war-ending Manhattan Project – exchanged hands for well over its high estimate, or $7,040 including the buyer’s premium.

Space/Aviation

Lot 155 was a fantastic collection of 25 photographs – including 20 NASA red-number photographs – documenting the Apollo VIII space mission. The 16 pre-flight, 9 in-flight, and 2 Earthrise photographs were highly coveted. The lot sold for 10 times its high estimate, or $5,000 including the tip.

Lot 155, Detail, Apollo VIII Archive

Lot 210 was a vintage photograph depicting First Flight boldly signed by Orville Wright and PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The encapsulated autograph sold for three times its high estimate, or $15,000 including the commission.

Sports

Lot 442 was a complete set of 1952 Bowman baseball cards, of which six cards were PSA/DNA slabbed and graded. Among the notable players featured in this series (many before they reached superstar status), are Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial. Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Leo Durocher, Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese, Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn, and Casey Stengel. The collection sold for an impressive $8,125 including the tip.

Lot 451 was an archive belonging to legendary sportswriter Roscoe McGowen. Among the 250 items of the collection, ca. 1925-1962, were 100 photographs, 38 original reporter’s passes, and 58 scorebooks, many with play-by-play diagrams. McGowen covered the Brooklyn Dodgers for many years and reported on Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in May 1947. This fascinating collection sold for 40% above its high estimate, or $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Art

Lot 296 was a printed program announcing the dedication of the Walt Disney Elementary School in Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Mississippi on October 16, 1960. The program boldly signed by the artist was treasured by the family of a former longtime teacher. It crossed the auction block for well over double its high estimate, selling for $5,937.50 including the buyer’s premium.

Our next sale is scheduled for August 27, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its latest sale, Rare Autographs, Books & Space Memorabilia, on June 4, 2025. The online-only auction attracted over 8,000 approved bidders who presented almost 3,000 bids for 524 lots of outstanding historical material. In-house absentee bids, phone bids, and bids from multiple internet bidding platforms were executed over the course of the 7-hour-long sale. We speculate that our large Space category (108 lots) and finely curated Literature category (41 lots) increased international interest, especially from Europe. While Americans dominated bidding, collectors from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong, Slovakia, and Austria, among other nations, also participated. The June sale was yet another million-dollar sale, and our third in 2025. We achieved $1,168,141 in total proceeds.

Sale highlights came from the following categories: U.S. Presidents, Space, Science, Art, and Entertainment.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 17 was an elegant blue and white moon flask teapot with a striking openwork center, 10” tall, once presented to President Gerald R. Ford from Chinese dignitaries, probably during Ford’s December 1975 state visit. The exchange of gifts like this went a long way to thawing Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China. From the Collection of President Gerald R. Ford via his son Jack Ford. The teapot sold for almost 2.5 times its high estimate, or $2,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 17, Chinese Teapot Gifted to President Gerald R. Ford

Lot 33 was a free franked cover penned by Thomas Jefferson as President, postmarked from Washington, D.C. on June 12, [1807]. The letter once contained therein, dated June 11, 1807, was written to a Danville, Kentucky man named John Norvell who had asked President Jefferson to recommend reading materials to expand his own “sound political knowledge.” President Jefferson advised Norvell to seek out certain books and essays but by no means to rely on the contemporary press. The cover signed “free Th: Jefferson Pr. US” sold for over its high estimate, or for $7,500 including the tip.

Lot 46 was a Civil War-dated diplomatic appointment signed by President Abraham Lincoln with a full signature and co-signed by Secretary of State William H. Seward. The document appointed an Ohio state politician named James Monroe to the position of U.S. Consul at Rio de Janeiro, a role he would fulfill until the Johnson administration. The Lincoln signed appointment sold for $11,250 including the buyer’s premium.

Space

Lot 190 was a large fragment of Kapton Mylar foil from the Command Module Columbia recovered after the Apollo 11 space mission, ca. 1969. At 6.25” x 8” and of an unusual forked shape, the foil makes for dramatic display. It comes with provenance from NASA employee Bill Whipkey in 1970, and with a Certificate of Authenticity from space expert Sandy Clarkson of The Right Stuff Space, Inc. The space-flown relic sold for nearly 4 times its high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium. That’s $187 per square inch!

Lot 202 was a NASA red number color photograph showing Commander Neil Armstrong on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The very rare photograph – the only view taken of Armstrong on the lunar surface – sold for $13,750 including the buyer’s premium, or 11 times its high estimate!

Lot 202, NASA Red Number Photograph of Neil Armstrong

Science

Lot 487 was a Thomas A. Edison, Inc. manufactured self-winding stock ticker, Model 32-A, n.d. but probably dating ca. 1915-1929, engraved on the base as “M’F’D By / T.A. Edison Inc. / 9370.” The brass workings and cast-iron cylindrical base of the device measure approximately 7.5” in diameter and 11” high. Although this was one technology that Edison did not invent, his automation of the existing device enabled synchronization of stock prices across the booming American stock exchange. The machine sold for 150% over its high estimate, exchanging hands for $8,320 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 494 was a limited-edition copy of Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (Evanston: The Library of Living Philosophers, Inc., 1949) signed and dated by its subject as “Albert Einstein 49” on the limitation page. The well-known historian of science Abraham Pais considered this volume – which included a 100pp chapter by Einstein as well as 25 essays on Einstein by fellow scientists – as the “closest Einstein ever came to writing an autobiography.” Einstein joked that these reflections reminded him of a funeral oration. The Einstein signed book sold for its high estimate, achieving $10,000 including the tip.

Art

Lot 121 was a Walt Disney signed presentation dye transfer print of Mickey Mouse produced for Mickey’s 25th birthday in 1953. The dye transfer print consists of three vibrantly colored layers (yellow, magenta, and cyan) applied sequentially to one emulsion layer for an eye-popping almost three-dimensional effect. The Disney signed print sold for almost twice its high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 121, Walt Disney Signed Mickey Mouse Dye Transfer Print

Lot 128 was an autograph letter in French signed by Pablo Picasso, dated July 20, 1961, and addressed to Max Pellequer, Picasso’s close friend and financial advisor. The rare letter in Picasso’s hand was PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10 and exceeded the high estimate, garnering $6,875 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 137 was a pair of items relating to the Statue of Liberty. These included a 4” x 1” copper segment from the Statue of Liberty, engraved (translated) as: “Copper fragment from the colossal Statue of Liberty executed by A. Bartholdi, 1875-1883, remembrance from a visit to the worksite.” This represents probably one of the only authentic Statue of Liberty relics ever offered in the United States, and the first of its kind for University Archives. The copper piece was artfully displayed next to a lovely postcard of the Statue of Liberty signed and inscribed by its creator, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The Statue of Liberty display sold for $10,625 including the buyer’s premium, which was over its high estimate.

Lot 140 was a copy of The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975) boldly signed on the half-title page by Warhol, who also added a hand-drawn sketch of a Campbell’s Onion Soup can. The Warhol signed book with original drawing sold for well over 3 times its high estimate, or $5,120 including the tip.

Entertainment

Lot 340 was a fetching beaded glass necklace, 24” in length, once personally owned and worn by Marilyn Monroe, from the October 1999 Christie’s sale auctioning off the Hollywood actress’s personal property. The beads have faceted surfaces which reflect light and color, and the necklace comes with the original auction tag. The Monroe owned necklace sold for over 150% of its high estimate, or $20,480 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 340, Marilyn Monroe Personally Owned & Worn Necklace

These are just a few of the superb auction items from our June sale.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for July 16, 2025. We hope you can join us!

University Archives welcomed both regulars and newcomers to its April sale, Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection. The Abraham Lincoln Collection, comprised of 60+ lots sandwiched in the middle of the U.S. Presidents section, generated intense interest among phone, absentee, and live online bidders. Lincoln autographed material – and especially relics like hair, fabric, wood, and wallpaper, etc. – showed very strong results. Economic uncertainty has not yet touched the autograph industry, where aggressive collecting is still taking place in all major categories. April marked yet another $1-million sale at University Archives.

Select sale highlights included:

Abraham Lincoln & Other U.S. Presidents

Lot 71 was a military appointment dated March 10, 1863 signed by President Abraham Lincoln appointing one William H. Forbes as Commissary of Subsistence of Volunteers. Forbes had fought in the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam and was captured by Mosby’s Rangers during the Action at Mount Zion Church about one year later, in July 1864, resulting in six months’ internment as a prisoner of war. The boldly signed document sold for 40% over its high estimate, or $18,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 73 was a document dated July 11, 1862 signed by President Abraham Lincoln with a very rare and very fine full signature. Lincoln appointed John A. Graham as interim Register of the Treasury on the day he also tagged Major General Henry W. Halleck as General-in-Chief of the Union Army. The beautifully autographed document exchanged hands for more than 3 times its high estimate, or $28,250 including the tip.

Lot 73, Abraham Lincoln DS

Lot 74 was a collection of 32pp manuscript pages, ca. May 30, 1867, being the testimony of Thomas T. Eckert, a Civil War-era military telegraph operator who later served as Assistant Secretary of War. Eckert had been called as one of 89 witnesses before a Congressional Committee investigating President Andrew Johnson in the latter’s first impeachment trial in January 1867. In this remarkable testimony, Eckert discussed what he knew about John Wilkes Booth’s diary, his burial, his co-conspirator Lewis Powell, and the existence of a semi-mythical Confederate cypher. The lot sold for double its high estimate, or $17,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 102 was an autograph letter signed by one Norton Galloway, a Civil War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, on February 14, 1902. Galloway’s account proves his ownership of the authentic Derringer pistol used by John Wilkes Booth during Lincoln’s assassination, tracing a line of custody to the Port Tobacco, Virginia ferryman who was gifted the weapon. Truly a sleeper in the sale, this unique account sold for more than 16 times the high estimate, or $10,710 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 26 was a 2pp letter signed by President James A. Garfield on April 29, 1881, less than three months before his fatal shooting, on “Executive Mansion” stationery. Garfield wrote to an appointee tapped to serve as Third Assistant Postmaster who later declined the appointment during the aftermath of the “Star-Route Scandal,” which revealed corruption in the U.S. Postal Service. It sold for 50% over its high estimate, or $18,750 including the tip.

World Leaders

Lot 437 was a manuscript document in Cyrillic dated October 7, 1722 and signed by Tsar Peter I, congratulating fellow European monarch Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia on the birth of a son, Augustus Wilhelm. The document stated (translated) in part: “… We bless your Royal House on the birth of this prince… With the wish that you may be graced with further well-being to Our greatest satisfaction and the prospering of your Royal House…” The royal autograph garnered $20,480 including the buyer’s premium, with a hammer price above the high estimate.

Science/Space

Lot 505 was a typed letter in German signed by Albert Einstein on March 1, 1935, the year he renounced his German citizenship and officially applied for permanent American residency. In this letter addressed to Jesse Mendheim, Einstein excoriated the German anti-Semitic weekly magazine Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher, who would later be tried at Nuremberg and executed. Einstein said: “It would be very beneficial if my collection [of such magazines] could be used to inform non-Jewish circles here about the true nature of the Hitler regime. In my opinion, not enough is being done in this regard.” This extraordinary letter sold for almost double its high estimate, or $21,250 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 505, Albert Einstein TLS

Lot 220 was a copy of the July 25, 1969 issue of Time Magazine showing Neil Armstrong on the front cover assertively signed by the “Man on the Moon” at right. The Apollo XI space mission had just concluded on July 24, 1969, after 8 days in Space. The lot sold for over double its high estimate, or $3,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Early America

Lot 303 was a Revolutionary War-dated document signed by John Hancock on May 13, 1782 appointing one Seth Webber as a carpenter aboard the Massachusetts State Navy schooner Tartar. The ship captured French and British prizes during its career as a privateer and, less than one year later, fought a naval skirmish against the British frigate Belisarius, leaving three British dead. The document sold for $18,750 including the buyer’s premium, or for 20% above its high estimate.

Lot 474 was a Texian Loan certificate dated January 11, 1836 co-signed by three commissioners including Stephen F. Austin, who would die within the year. The certificate granted 640 acres to a Cincinnati real estate investor as a way to fund the ongoing Texan Revolution and encourage immigration from the United States to Texas. The document exceeded its high estimate, selling for $6,250 including the tip.

Entertainment

Lot 351 was an autograph note signed by Marilyn Monroe in Osaka, Japan, ca. February 1954, during an overseas trip entertaining U.S. troops stationed in Korea. Monroe thanked airman Hilda “Bugs” Benning, the roommate of Monroe’s military escort Ollie Palmer, for having loaned her his leather bomber jacket on a frigid excursion to a U.S. airbase. The warm and lovely signed note sold for $12,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Literature

Lot 456 was a first edition presentation copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays: Second Series (Boston: James Munroe, 1844), signed and dedicated by the author to his close friend and financial adviser Abel Adams. The volume containing “Experience” and “Nature” sold for 20% above its high estimate, or $6,250 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 459 was a 2pp autograph letter signed by Margaret Mitchell on April 1, 1939 while hiding out in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mitchell wrote her editor at Macmillan, Harold S. Latham, that she and husband John Marsh were “not registered under our own names. [A] distasteful practice… necessary when traveling if we want to get any peace and rest.” Seven months later, the Civil War blockbuster Gone With The Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. The lot sold for over 40% over its high estimate, or $8,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Marvelous Miscellany (Business, Military, Sports)

Lot 269 was a McDonald’s gift certificate, ca. 1981, signed by entrepreneur Ray Kroc, which topped its high estimate by over 80%. This piece of classic Americana sold for $5,000 including the tip.

Lot 406 was a United States Military Academy yearbook, ca. 1903, signed by 94 cadets including Douglas MacArthur, future Pacific Theater commander, and U.S. Grant III, grandson of ex-president Ulysses S. Grant. The album with Pach Bros. portrait photos is a who’s who of future World War I and World War II military personnel. It crossed the auction block above its high estimate, achieving $4,687 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 522 was a photograph of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, taken ca. 1949, co-signed by the two rival players and PSA/DNA certified. This attractive piece of baseball memorabilia sold for over its high estimate, or for $812 including the tip.

These were just a few of the sensational lots in our April sale.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for June 4, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives welcomed online, absentee, and phone bidders to its Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Memorabilia auction yesterday. Our sale catalog received over 26,600 lot views on auction day alone, and substantial bidding volume reflected this. Over 3,300 absentee bids were executed either online or by UA staff, and 96% of our sale items sold. Thus continues our streak of maintaining a sell-through rate of 90% or above for the last 29 consecutive auctions since September 2021. We averaged 471 lots per sale for these 29 sales, and a mean sell-through rate of 98%. No one can top our sales record in the autograph and manuscript industry!

U.S. Presidents

Lot 74 was a blank ship’s passport boldly signed by Abraham Lincoln as President and co-signed by Secretary of State William H. Seward. The successful buyer decided that both the attractive signatures and the near fine state of the passport blank made it a great addition to their presidential collection. The Lincoln signed passport blank sold for 40% higher than the high estimate, or $23,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 75 was a Civil War-dated military appointment signed by Abraham Lincoln as President and co-signed by Secretary of War Simon Cameron, promoting an Irish-born career soldier named Leslie Smith as a Second Lieutenant. Cameron’s autograph on such documents is uncommon since he only served ten months as Secretary of War. The Lincoln signed document sold for more than double its high estimate, or $23,750 including the tip.

Lot 164 came from the Skip Hensel Presidential Collection and was a White House engraving signed by six presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. A phone bidder snatched up this piece for $16,250 including the buyer’s premium – or 40% above its high estimate – for good reason: if the buyer can add the presidential signatures of Obama, Trump, and Biden to the original six presidents’ signatures, its value will likely increase tenfold!

Lot 164, Six Presidents Signed White House Engraving

Lot 146 was a 1p typed letter signed by Harry S. Truman on April 12, 1945, the date of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death and of Truman’s subsequent swearing-in. Addressed to his friend Roy H. Webb of Kansas City, this letter is only one of three Truman signed letters dated April 12th that have come to auction in the last 25 years, and the only one to have been signed by Truman with his full name. The Truman signed letter exchanged hands for $16,250 including the tip, exceeding its high estimate.

Lot 54 was an autograph letter signed by ex-President Thomas Jefferson, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. In this letter written at Monticello on October 17, 1816, Jefferson thanked Henry A.S. Dearborn for sending him an English translation of a scientific work by French agronomist Charles Philibert de Lasteyrie about the Isatis tinctoria plant, traditionally used to produce blue dye. The Jefferson ALS sold for 25% above the high estimate, or $15,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 2 was a 1p autograph letter signed by John Quincy Adams on November 6, 1814 in Ghent, Belgium, where he was attempting to negotiate War of 1812-ending peace talks with Great Britain. Adams wrote in part: “Our negotiation is spinning out and unless our Government brings it to a close, will be a mere chancery suit…” This wonderfully candid letter with great political content garnered 20% more than its high estimate, or $15,000 including the tip.

Lot 157 was a first printing of a pamphlet entitled “The Will of General George Washington: To Which is Annexed, A Schedule of His Property, Directed to be Sold” (Alexandria: Record of the County Court of Fairfax, 1800). The document reproduced George Washington’s last will and testament, finalized by the former president in July 1799, only six months before his death in December 1799. This remarkable piece of presidential ephemera sold for nearly double the high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

Civil Rights

Lot 251 was a later printing of Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), boldly signed on the front loose endpaper by King and presented to Doug Gilbert, a Duke University divinity student and Civil Rights activist. Sourced directly from the recipient’s family, the King signed book sold for almost twice its high estimate, or $9,375 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 251, Martin Luther King, Jr. Signed Book

Military

Lot 409 was an archive of 12 letters (59pp) by British Admiral Alexander Cochrane, 1804-1814, mentioning monumental events from the War of 1812 including the burning of Washington, D.C. In a 3pp autograph letter signed dated September 19, 1814, Cochrane wrote flippantly: “… This day Congress meets[.] What will Jamie Madison say for suffering their house [the White House] to be burned during their Recess.” The extraordinary archive achieved three times its high estimate, or $7,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 416 was a collection of 12 photographs featuring 13 autographs from the “Band of Brothers,” as members of E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment, 21st Airborne Division were called in the 2001 HBO miniseries of the same name. The popularity of World War II-era collectibles right now is probably the reason why the archive sold for 10 times its high estimate, or $6,250 including the tip.

Lot 416, “Band of Brothers” Signed Photos

World Leaders

Lot 425 was a 1p typed letter signed by Winston Churchill dated May 6, 1939, just four months prior to Britain’s declaration of war against Nazi Germany. In this letter to Major David Percy Davies, his editor at “News of the World,” Churchill wrote that his forthcoming article about the British Admiralty must not comment too explicitly on the British Navy’s role during wartime, showing a prudence called for by current events. The Churchill signed letter sold for $6,250 including the buyer’s premium, or well over its high estimate.

Lot 484 was a 1p document in Russian initialed in red colored pencil by Josef Stalin. In an effort to curtail “contamination” by state enemies – like White Guard (anti-communists), Kulaks (wealthy peasants), and Trotskyists (adherents of Stalin’s despised political enemy, Leon Trotsky), Stalin authorized the increase of military personnel in the Molotov region. Just six days earlier, in late May 1940, Stalin had tried (and failed) to orchestrate Trotsky’s assassination. Stalin’s henchmen would succeed three months later in Mexico City. The Stalin signed document sold for $6,875 including the tip.

These were just some of the incredible lots in our March 2025 sale. Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for April 23, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives welcomed in the New Year with a $1-million sale yesterday! That makes two consecutive months that University Archives has achieved sales exceeding $1 million (our back-to-back sales in December 2024, the December 11, 2024 sale at University Archives, and our December 4, 2024 co-branded sale with Eaton & Brennan Auctions, generated nearly $1.5 million combined.) Over 7,000 approved bidders on multiple bidding platforms vied for items in our January sale, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Memorabilia. Bidders from the United States, Australia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom dominated online bidding by country of origin, but we also received bids from Finland, Hong Kong, and Mexico! And our buyers found much to buy: 96% of items offered in our January sale sold.

Just a few of the estimate-crushing highlights from our January sale include:

Art

Lot 138 was an astounding collection of 70+ original metal (copper and steel) etching plates and woodblocks, 1887-1975, sourced by a New York art dealer. The group represents 30+ international Modern artists of the highest caliber, including: Pablo Picasso (3), Salvador Dalí (5), Marc Chagall (1), Georges Braque (3), Alberto Giacometti (1), Georges Rouault (9), Marcel Duchamp (2), Jean Cocteau (2), Pierre Bonnard (2), Marie Laurencin (7), Leonard Baskin (2), Wilfredo Lam (1), André Derain (3), Raphael Soyer (6), Joseph Stella (4), and many others. After an intense flurry of online bidding in the weeks before the auction, the lot finally sold to a phone bidder for $112,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 138, NY Art Dealer Lot of Plates & Woodblocks

U.S. Presidents & First Ladies

Lot 52 was an autograph letter by Thomas Jefferson as President signed not once, not twice, but four times, including a rare full signature. In this letter dated February 17, 1809, President Jefferson asked for the assistance of his grandson and namesake, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, in securing a newspaper subscription. The President’s signatures appear in four different ways: as “Jefferson” in addressing his grandson; as “Thomas Jefferson” within the text; as “Th: Jefferson” at the conclusion of the letter; and as “Thos. J.” in the docketing verso. This remarkably well-autographed presidential missive passed the auction block for 300% of the high estimate, or $34,375 including the tip.

Lot 129 was a franking signature by George Washington, PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The cover dated January 5, 1780 was written in Morris Town, New Jersey and addressed to Colonel Stephen Moylan of Colchester, Connecticut, the leader of “Moylan’s Horse,” or the 4th Continental Light Dragoons. Later that year, Moylan’s cavalry was involved in major Revolutionary War engagements at Springfield and Bull’s Ferry. The Washington frank exchanged hands for 40% above the high estimate, or $25,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 129, George Washington Franking Signature

Lot 89 was a brown leather purse belonging to Mary Todd Lincoln back in Illinois. The relatively plain handbag, with a front pocket secured by two brass turn-locks and a central pocket secured by a push-button lock, was gifted to one of Lincoln’s Springfield, Illinois acquaintances. The item was accompanied by a handwritten note of provenance reading: “This hand bag was the original property of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. When they ‘packed up’ to start for Washington, she gave it to Miss Langford in Springfield. I got it directly from Miss Langford. Miss Langford exchanged this bag with Mr. George G. Hartinaw [?] for some jewelry in Milwaukee & I bought it from him in 1910. John E. Burton.” The future First Lady’s fashion accessory sold for well over three times its high estimate, or $17,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 81 was an Abraham Lincoln signed check from Springfield, Illinois dated September 28, 1857. Lincoln paid about $14 to Reuben F. Ruth, a local saddle and harnessmaker, from accounts he had held at the Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Company since 1853. The same day, Lincoln also paid a furniture dealer, several newspaper publishers, and an antislavery settler. The lot sold for its estimate, or $31,250 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 37 was a check signed by James A. Garfield as President, accompanied by provenance from his son, James R. Garfield, more than 50 years after the former’s assassination. President Garfield authorized the payment of William “Billy” T. Crump, White House steward, for “Incidental expenses and cook hire.” The check, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded MINT 9, is only one of two known examples of a President Garfield signed check. It sold for more than double the high estimate, or $21,250 including the tip, handily trouncing Christie’s 1999 other signed check record of $10,000.

Lot 37, James Garfield As President Signed Check

Military

Lot 336 was a book series supplement of thirteen World War I maps personally owned by a young George S. Patton. The red cloth slipcase is twice signed by Patton: the first time on the front cover, as “G S Patton Jr”; and the second time on the spine as “Patton.” The maps, which show various stages of the March 1918 German Offensive, are neatly housed in an accordion folder with numbered tabs for easy retrieval. This treasure of militaria sold for double the high estimate, or $7,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 305 was a 3”-long graphite segment from Chicago Pile-1, Enrico Fermi’s nuclear reactor, displayed in a highly collectible Lucite case with engraved plaque. This graphite pin was one of many holding Uranium deposits in place within the reactor. Fermi successfully initiated the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction within CP-1 on December 2, 1942. The relic sold for over the high estimate, or $5,312.50 including the buyer’s premium.

Business

Lot 209 was a great piece of Americana: a ca. 1981 booklet of McDonald’s gift certificates, the first one in the packet boldly signed by Ray Kroc, the entrepreneur who helped turn the fast-food restaurant into an iconic billion-dollar business. It sold for $7,500 including the buyer’s premium, or over 10 times the high estimate!

Lot 209, Ray Kroc Signed McDonald’s Gift Certificate

These are just some of the memorable highlights from our January 29, 2025 sale.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for March 12, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives reached a monumental milestone in December 2024: sales of nearly $1.5 million! Our December 11, 2024 sale, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books – Just In Time For The Holidays, yielded stupendous results, as did our co-branded sale with Eaton & Brennan Auctions on December 4, 2024, Hit Factory Recording Studios Memorabilia Auction. In addition to the December 11th sale’s being our most profitable to date, University Archives also maintained its industry-topping sell-through rate of 96%. We had 9,000+ approved bidders, many from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and we also welcomed online bidders from South Africa, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It was truly a worldwide event, with over 27,000 lot views on Invaluable.com on December 11th alone.

U.S. Presidents

University Archives’ most dominant collecting category – U.S. Presidents – performed extremely well, outstripping its collective high estimates.

Lot 146 was a 2pp letter signed by President George Washington on October 3, 1789. The circular addressed to Governor of Connecticut Samuel Huntington itemized key pieces of legislation that had been enacted by the 1st session of the 1st U.S. Congress, recently convened from March 4 to September 29, 1789. During this extremely productive session, the U.S. Congress outlined the Judiciary Act, appropriated money for the federal budget, and authorized the federal use of state militias. The Washington signed letter sold for $162,500 including the buyer’s premium. That’s more than double the high estimate!

Lot 146, George Washington LS

Lot 52 was an outstanding ship’s passport signed by the shortest-serving U.S. President, William Henry Harrison, sometime during his month-long presidency. Signed by President Harrison in advance as a blank, it was used by customs officials on April 30, 1841, nearly a full month after Harrison’s death from pneumonia on April 4, 1841, for a New Bedford whaling ship called Agate that foundered off the Cape Verde Islands in a severe storm two years later. The scarce Harrison signed document exchanged hands for $118,750 including the tip.

Lot 147 was a 1p partly printed partly document co-signed by George Washington as President and Thomas Jefferson as U.S. Secretary of State pertaining to the newly created U.S. Customs Service. The document dated March 21, 1791 appointed Vincent Redman as Inspector of the Revenue for Kinsale on the Yeocomico River, the oldest port on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, and located near Washington’s birthplace. Redman was one of 59 original revenue collectors appointed. The Washington and Jefferson dual signed document sold for $53,125 including the buyer’s premium, selling for 70% over the high estimate.

Lot 84 was a draft call signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 24, 1863 requesting the first part of a conscription quota, a levy of 2,406 troops from the 18th District of Pennsylvania. The draft call was one of the first signed by Lincoln and came just a week after the New York Draft Riots. The Union’s need for additional soldiers was pressing following the Battle of Gettysburg three weeks earlier. The Lincoln signed order sold for $34,375 including the buyer’s premium, surpassing its high estimate by 30%.

Lot 84, Abraham Lincoln DS

Lot 140 was a 1p typed letter signed by President Harry S. Truman on May 9, 1945, just one day after V-E Day and two days after Germany’s unconditional surrender. In this letter addressed to Major General Paul W. Baade, commander of the 35th Division, Truman congratulated him on the “wonderful part they [the troops] have taken in the glorious victory over the Germans.” Baade’s 35th Division had participated in the Allied march to Berlin during the last days of the war. The Truman signed letter sold for $4,687.50 including the tip, or a 60% boost over the high estimate.

Early America

Lot 264 was a 1p partly printed document boldly signed by John Hancock as the Governor of Massachusetts dated July 14, 1788 appointing one William Allen as Major of the 6th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Suffolk County Militia. The document, whimsically framed behind glass above a quill pen, sold for $10,625 including the buyer’s premium, or more than double the high estimate.

Lot 268 was a 1p autograph letter in English signed by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat turned Revolutionary War hero. In his letter dated October 28, 1831 addressed to an unknown American correspondent, Lafayette opined about France’s Revolution of 1830, and in closing, referred to himself as “an American.” The Lafayette signed letter sold for 90% more than its high estimate, or $13,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 456 was a 3pp autograph letter signed by John Marshall dated June 25, 1823, during his tenure as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, regarding his sister’s slaves in Kentucky. In the letter addressed to his nephew Martin P. Marshall, the Chief Justice mentions state-specific laws pertaining to slave-holding. The letter sold for $13,750 including the tip, or more than 20% higher than the high estimate.

Science

Lot 466 was a photograph of Albert Einstein wearing his beloved scruffy leather jacket, probably taken by Lotte Jacobi, and signed by him as “A. Einstein, 1947.” The portrait is shockingly modern in its sensibility, with Einstein staring boldly at the viewer. Einstein presented the signed photograph to Derek J. de Solla Price, the British physicist and historian of science. The arresting Einstein signed photograph sold for nearly twice its high estimate, or $17,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 466, Albert Einstein SP

World Leaders / Military

Lot 369 was a 2pp document signed by Josef Stalin in blue colored pencil at its conclusion, dated September 15, 1941, during Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of U.S.S.R. The document was signed only one week after Hitler began the Siege of Leningrad. In the document, Stalin ordered the Red Army to protect Moscow, which was Hitler’s third military objective after securing Leningrad and eastern Ukraine. The Stalin signed document sold for $13,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 319 was a measuring scale used by Gus Schultz, foreman of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s drafting room and machine shop at Los Alamos, dating from the Manhattan Project-era. The precision tool would have been used to correctly scale atomic bomb components and is believed to be one of the first ever offered at auction. It sold for over double its high estimate, or $2,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Entertainment

Lot 297 was Marilyn Monroe’s Connecticut driver’s license, boldly signed by her as “Marilyn Monroe Miller,” and PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The ca. July 28, 1958 license lists Monroe’s birthday, height, and address in Roxbury, Connecticut, where she lived with playwright husband Arthur Miller from 1956-1961. The Hollywood starlet relic sold for $43,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Art

Lot 176 was a rare 1p autograph letter in French signed by Pablo Picasso, PSA/DNA encapsulated, certified, and graded GEM MT 10. In this letter dated October 16, 1958 and addressed to Picasso’s close friend, the art collector and financier Max Pellequer, Picasso mentioned a mutual acquaintance – Maurice Loncle, a French art collector of 19th/20th graphic arts. The item sold for 40% more than its high estimate, or $16,250 including the tip.

Lot 160 was a color photograph depicting Salvador Dali working on a sculpture, with an original Dali doodle of Don Quixote below in purple pen incorporating his signature. Dali’s sketch of the literary knight on horseback was dedicated to his lawyer Arnold Grant in November 1975. The Dali signed original artwork sold for nearly 10 times its high estimate, or $23,750 including the buyer’s premium.

These are just some of the spectacular highlights from our December 11, 2024 sale.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for January 29, 2025.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives held its October 30, 2024 sale last week. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books achieved especially strong returns in the U.S. Presidential, Early America, Science, World Leaders, Civil Rights, Religion, and Sports collecting categories. Not only did we maintain our exceptionally high long-time sell-through rate of over 90% (97%), but we also surpassed a company record: the most lot views ever received on Invaluable.com on a sale day, with 31,217 lot views. We are continuing to build a respected world-wide reputation.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 1 was a letters patent document co-signed by John Quincy Adams as President and Henry Clay as U.S. Secretary of State. The document dated August 30, 1826 was matted with a rare John Quincy Adams carte de visite after Mathew Brady. It sold for over double its high estimate, or $2,000 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 20 was a scarce 1p autograph letter signed by James A. Garfield as President, dated June 15, 1881, just two weeks before he was shot by Charles Guiteau. In the letter, Garfield gives directions to a hotel-owner in the “summer colony” of Long Branch, New Jersey, where First Lady Lucretia Garfield was recuperating from a bout of malaria. After the shooting, the fatally wounded Garfield ventured to Long Branch himself, to benefit from the sea air; he died there at Franklyn Cottage in September 1881. This remarkable letter sold for 40% more than its high estimate, or $12,160 including the tip.

Lot 20, James A. Garfield ALS

Lot 121 was an autograph document signed in full by George Washington as “Mr George Washington.” The document dated ca. 1773 pertained to a 1751 land survey of 445 acres that Washington had completed over 20 years earlier for one Richard Seymour on behalf of Washington’s older half-brother Lawrence Washington. Washington’s endorsement certified that he waived all claims to the original land ownership through either his half-brother or younger full brother Charles Washington. The document relating to Washington’s first humble career – as a backwoods land surveyor – exchanged hands for more than the high estimate: $18,750 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 122 was a provisional discharge certificate signed by George Washington in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, dated June 7, 1783, and issued to Jonathan Titus, Jr., a Private in the 2nd New York Regiment. The document granted Titus Jr. a furlough and provisional discharge after 6 ½ years’ military service, part of which was spent at his father’s side. Jonathan Titus, Sr. and Jonathan Titus, Jr. fought together at engagements at Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, and Stony Point. The Washington signed document sold for 40% over its high estimate, or $20,000 including the tip.

Early America

Lot 253 was a printed U.S. Treasury circular, dated August 27, 1792, and boldly signed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. In it, Hamilton outlined a new way to transmit “Abstracts of Licenses” for exports. Just a few months earlier, Hamilton had deftly handled the Panic of 1792, successfully preventing a nation-wide recession. The Hamilton signed document sold to an ecstatic phone bidder for 40% more than the high estimate, or $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 256 was a partly printed and partly manuscript pay order boldly signed by John Jay and directed to Benjamin Franklin, dated June 15, 1779. Jay instructed Franklin to remit 31,000 Livres Tournois to French playwright Caron de Beaumarchais. Famous for his comedic farces The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, Beaumarchais was also a secret agent who served as a liaison between the Americans and French prior to their official 1778 alliance. In this way, de Beaumarchais facilitated the transfer of French arms and supplies to the Continentals. This spectacular Revolutionary War-dated pay order exchanged between two of the era’s most influential Founding Fathers sold for 250% more than its high estimate, or $12,500 including the tip.

Science

Lot 447 was a 3pp autograph letter in German signed by Albert Einstein in which the scientist explores both his Unified Field Theory and General Relativity. This exceptionally long scientific letter addressed to Einstein’s friend and fellow physicist Cornelius Lanczos includes a total of twelve equations in Einstein’s hand. It also features unexpectedly comedic content, as when Einstein refers to Freud, another of the greats of twentieth-century science, as an “old man” whose “‘father complex’ … can so easily take hold … [in] an alarmingly unstable situation…” The letter sold online for over its low estimate, garnering $53,125 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 447, Albert Einstein ALS With Equations

World Leaders

Lot 392 was a 1p autograph letter in Gujarati twice signed by Mohandas Gandhi in what is the earliest example of an ALS we’ve ever seen. Gandhi wrote his older brother Laxmidas from South Africa on January 22, 1889 inquiring about mutual acquaintances. Gandhi signs the letter formally at the conclusion as “Mohandas Karamchand Pranam” and also signs it as “Gandhi” when writing out part of his brother’s name. This early letter sold for 20% more than its high estimate, or $10,625 including the buyer’s premium.

Civil Rights

Lot 219 was a British halfpenny made of Middlesex copper, ca. 1790s, depicting one of the most recognizable of all anti-slavery images and slogans: a shackled enslaved person asking “AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?” The coin catalogued GB D&H-1038b sold for over five times its high estimate, or $5,312.50 including the buyer’s premium.

Religion

Lot 223 was a 1p autograph letter signed by Charles Wesley, the famed Methodist hymnodist, dated January 24, 1753, in which he regretfully declined an invitation from Ebenezer Blackwell, a wealthy London banker. Blackwell had recently converted to Methodism and financed much of the ministries of the Wesley brothers (including John) and George Whitefield. The letter sold for 20% over its high estimate, or $4,687.50 including the tip.

Sports

Lot 489 was an entrance ticket boldly signed by Babe Ruth and PSA/DNA graded GEM MT 10. The ticket granted admission to the Rhode Island Independent Amateur Softball Championships held in East Providence, Rhode Island from September 2-7, 1941. Guest stars Babe Ruth and Ted Williams both participated in crowd-drawing baseball-hitting demonstrations. Ruth had played for the Red Sox minor league team the Providence Grays nearly 30 years before. The signed ticket sold for double its high estimate, or $12,500 including the buyer’s premium.

Lot 489, Babe Ruth Signed Ticket

Lot 491 was an archive of sports correspondence courses featuring autograph endorsements signed by the “Father of Basketball Coaching” Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, ca. 1935. The archive includes a 12th ed. hardcover copy of Allen’s foundational text, My Basket-ball Bible (1934) as well as printed curriculum handouts and graded assignments. The lot sold for well over the high estimate, or $7,500 including the tip.

Our next sale is tentatively scheduled for December 11, 2024.

We hope you can join us!

Lot 541, Davy Crockett ALS Criticizing President Jackson: “his will is to be the law of the land”

Estimates: $18,000 – $24,000

Sold for $62,500 including the buyer’s premium