1864 Lincoln letter brings $3.4 million

[Gay Mathis]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/lin...ter/index.html

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1864 Lincoln letter brings $3.4 million

Story Highlights

Letter is president's reply to children asking him to free slaves It was expected to sell for $3 million to $5 million

Private American collector purchased letter over the phone

From Mythili Rao
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A rare Lincoln manuscript sold for $3.4 million on Thursday at Sotheby's auction house. The 1864 letter in which Abraham Lincoln replies to the abolitionist pleas of 195 young boys and girls was bought by a private American collector over the phone.

The sale of the letter, from the Dr. Robert Small Trust, set a record for a Lincoln manuscript, a presidential manuscript and any American manuscript ever auctioned, Sotheby's spokeswoman Susan Ollinick said.

The "Little People's Petition" had asked Lincoln "to free all the little slave children of this country."

Lincoln wrote, "Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it."

Although Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had declared freedom for all slaves held in areas "in rebellion" against the United States as of January 1, 1863, full abolition of slavery was not accomplished until adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution late in 1865.

The letter had been expected to sell for $3 million to $5 million.

About 20 Lincoln documents were among the 111 items for sale from the Small Trust.

Also included were other documents from U.S. presidents, including pages from George Washington's diary and correspondence from Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; a rare document signed by both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark; about 10 documents from Robert E. Lee; and documents from John Brown, Samuel Clemens, Orville Wright and others.
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Gay

[samgrant]

Good post.

I had seen an article about that auction, a few days ago. Thanks for the info about the results.

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Now I have a question:

If you found some piece of junk at a garage sale and it had uncovered a genuine Lincoln signature, how much would it take in $s for you to part with it?


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[unionblue]

Gay,

Thank you for the above story.

Always learning something new at this board, and I sincerely appreciate posts such as this one.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[Gay Mathis]

Originally Posted by samgrant

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Now I have a question:

If you found some piece of junk at a garage sale and it had uncovered a genuine Lincoln signature, how much would it take in $s for you to part with it?


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If I ever find something like that, I will sure let you know what it took for me to part with it..If only, I would be that lucky..We can always dream can't we?....
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Gay

[samgrant]

Well, I'll answer my own question, if no one objects.

In this way:

If I had no children to pass it on to, I'd look for the best price I could get for it, and hope a museum or Historical Society of some sort could offer me half of what that 'private collector' paid, and sell the thing and quit my f...ing job and, as they say "live the life of a millionaire', which to me would be just to have a secure home and be able to play golf as much as I want.

If I did have children/descendants, I would make pretty darned sure that they were serious about the significance of such an item before even considering leaving it to them, and then I'd probably think "no" and sell the thing as I stated above.

Anybody want to buy a Ronald Reagan signature ?

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