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!
