8 minute read
Presidents and First Ladies
1. James Madison Signed Check. Office of Pay and
Deposit of the Bank of Columbia ‘private account’ check, 6.75 x 2.5, filled out and signed by Madison as president, “James Madison,” payable to “A. B. or bearer” for $100, September 21, 1814. Mounted, matted, and framed with a portrait to an overall size of 13.75 x 19.75. In very good to fine condition, with intersecting folds, and a stain to the upper right. Starting Bid $200
2. Franklin Pierce Autograph Letter Signed. ALS, one page,
7 x 9, February 4, 1860. Handwritten letter to F. N. Blood in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, in full: “I thank you for your letter of this morning. I am disappointed as I have been, so often before by my Brothers absence. Do you know the occasion which called him to Boston. When did he leave home. Has Mr. Kimball paid the $400 which he promised when at your office to pay about the 1st of June. I shall remain here three or four days. It is possible that I may go to Hillsboro on Wednesday.” Matted and framed to an overall size of 12.5 x 14.5. In fine condition, with some brushes to the ink. Starting Bid $200
Pivotal Lincoln appointment dating to his order of the Fort Sumter supply expedition
3. Abraham Lincoln Document Signed as President. Civil War-dated partly-printed vellum DS as president, one page, 16 x 19.75, March 29, 1861. President Lincoln appoints Robert H. Hall as a “Second Lieutenant in the Tenth Regiment of Infantry.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by Abraham Lincoln, and countersigned by Secretary of War Simon Cameron. The embossed orange War Office seal remains intact. In very good to fine condition, with a small stain to the upper right edge, and some vellum loss to the lower right.
On March 5th, a day after his inauguration, Lincoln learned from Major Robert Anderson that the provisions at Fort Sumter, lying in Charleston Harbor of seceded South Carolina, would be exhausted in about four to six weeks, and that to relieve and reinforce the fort would require no less than ‘twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men.’ Despite General Winfield Scott’s suggestion to surrender the fort and evacuate the troops with a potential ‘truce, or informal understanding,’ Lincoln, after days of deliberation with his cabinet, made his decision on March 29, 1861: supply ships were being sent to Fort Sumter. Historians agree that Lincoln’s swift actions, which essentially triggered the start of the Civil War, point to the moment that he truly ‘began to act as commander in chief.’ Starting Bid $1000
Handwritten endorsement by President Lincoln to release a Confederate POW
Image above is larger than actual size.
4. Abraham Lincoln Autograph Endorsement Signed. Civil War-dated autograph
endorsement signed as president, “Let this man take the oath of Dec. 8, 1863 & be discharged, A. Lincoln, Jan. 11, 1865,” on an off-white 3 x 2.5 slip. Handsomely double-matted and framed with an engraved portrait to an overall size of 12 x 17.75. In fine condition, with writing showing through from the back.
On December 8, 1863, President Lincoln had issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, by which he offered full pardons to any participant in the rebellion who laid down his arms and swore a loyalty oath, agreeing to ‘faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of all the States there under.’ By this stroke of Lincoln’s pen, he approved the release of a former Confederate soldier held as a prisoner of war. Starting Bid $1000
5. U. S. Grant Signature. Neat ink
signature, “U. S. Grant,” on an off-white 3.75 x 2.25 card, which is handsomely cloth-matted and framed with a large photo to an overall size of 14 x 20. In fine condition. Starting Bid $200 6. U. S. Grant Letter Signed. LS signed “U. S. Grant,” one page, 8.25 x 11, Mexico Southern Railroad Company letterhead, June 14, 1883. Letter to Lawrence Mendenhall of the Cincinnati Industrial Exhibition, in full: “Your letter of June 11th at hand, and in reply I will say that I certainly have no objections to comply with your request, but I am not aware of any ownership or control that I have over my portrait now in the Cabinet Club in Chicago. If you can get the consent of the Club of course you have mine.” In fine condition, with light soiling. Starting Bid $200
America’s great Trust Buster agrees that “no limitation of the right to acquire these lands from the government can prevent their being ultimately monopolized”
7. Theodore Roosevelt Typed Letter Signed as
President. TLS as president, two pages, 8 x 10.25, White House letterhead, October 13, 1906. Letter to Judson C. Clements, Acting Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in part: “I have just received your paper on the Union Pacific coal investigation...I feel very strongly that your first position which is that we should not part with anymore coal lands, is correct, in which case your second position, that we should not withdraw public coal lands from private entry can not but be incorrect.” In very good to fine condition, with scattered toning and foxing, heavier to the first page, and staple holes to the upper left corners. Starting Bid $200
The president sends his “deep and unbounded” thanks for a donation to the Infantile Paralysis Fund
dent. World War II-dated TLS as president, one page, 7 x 8.75, White House letterhead, February 5, 1942. Letter to E. Lansing Ray, editor and publisher of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, in full: “I want to thank you for that grand birthday message you sent me telling me of the splendid contribution to the Infantile Paralysis Fund through the St. Louis Mole O’Dimes. My personal gratitude, as well as that of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to all of you who had a part in this gift is deep and unbounded.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
On the USA entering the Korean War— “We feel that this action is a forward step in the cause of world peace and stability”
9. Harry S. Truman Typed Letter Signed as President.
TLS as president, one page, 7 x 9, White House letterhead, June 30, 1950. Letter to Ray O. Nachtman, in full: “It was very thoughtful of you to send me that message of June twenty-eighth, and to let me have your word of approval of our decision to extend aid to Korea. We feel that this action is a forward step in the cause of world peace and stability.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
Fresh off his narrow 1952 Senate election victory, JFK thanks a supporter and explains how they “survived the Eisenhower landslide”
one page, 6.25 x 9, personal Congress of the United States, House Representatives letterhead, November 25, 1952. Letter to Mrs. Finn, written in the wake of the 1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, in part: “I am sure you know how much I appreciate all of your efforts during the past months of the campaign. I am certain that we never would have survived the Eisenhower landslide if it had not been for the effectiveness of our organization, an organization, in my opinion, which was the best that the state had ever seen.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
one page, 8 x 10.5, United States Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare letterhead, July 19, 1956. Letter to James B. White, in full: “This will acknowledge receipt of your letter in the interest of Charles F. Mandell, Union Street, Millis, Massachusetts, who is most desirous of securing an appointment to the position of Compliance Inspector in the Construction Division of the Veterans Administration in Boston. In an effort to be of assistance, I am contacting General William Blake, Manager, Veterans Administration, in Boston, in Mr. Mandell’s behalf. You may be sure, as soon as further word is received, I will be in touch with you again.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, which bears Kennedy’s stamped franking signature. Starting Bid $200
12. John F. Kennedy Signature. Ballpoint signature, “Many
thanks—John Kennedy,” on the reverse of an off-white 5.75 x 4.5 mailing envelope, with the front annotated in another hand, “A Spiritual Bo[u]quet of Masses, from Rev. Edward J. McCarthy, S. J., Campion Jesuit School, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.” In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, and a central vertical fold. Starting Bid $200
13. Four Presidents Signed
Photograph. Color satin-finish 8 x 10 photo of Presidents Nixon through Reagan gathered at the White House prior to departing for Anwar Sadat’s funeral in 1981, signed in the lower border in black felt tip, “Ronald Reagan,” “Jimmy Carter,” and “Richard Nixon,” and in blue felt tip, “Gerald Ford.” The upper left bears the calligraphic inscription: “To Jesse Bell, with best wishes.” In fine condition, with creases to the lower left corner. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA, and by a letter from the original recipient, affirming that all of the autographs were obtained in person. Starting Bid $200
