A pair of gloves that Abraham Lincoln carried with him on the night he was murdered have been auctioned in Chicago for $1.2 million.
The blood-stained leather glove were the most valuable item in a major sale of 144 pieces being sold by the Lincoln Presidential Foundation through Freeman’s and Hindman.
The sale brought in $6.2 million (before fees) going well over a $4 million total low estimate with all but 8 items selling.
Lincoln’s murder, by John Wilkes Booth, intent on revenging the confederacy, has made him a legendary, mythic figure in American history.
The gloves made their top estimate of $1.2 million. A handkerchief the president carried on the same, fateful night – April 14, 1965 – was also sold, sailing past a $200,000 top estimate to realise $650,000.
A button from Lincoln’s cuff made $350,000. A ticket for the show Lincoln during which Lincoln was killed was sold for $300,000.
A reward poster offering $100,000 in total and naming John Wilkes Booth, David Harold (really Herold) and John Surratt as wanted men realised $600,000 against a $120,000 high estimate.
A book containing the earliest known example of Lincoln’s handwriting brought in $410,000.
This ticket stub was sold for $381,500 with fees. Image courtesy of Freeman’s Hindman.
The Foundation was selling in order to pay off a $23-million loan it had taken out to make a major purchase of Lincolniana in 2007.
Many items that private collectors thought they would never get a chance to own came to market.
Lincoln is the most collectible American president.
He is the president credited with ending slavery in the United States, at the cost of a murderous civil war. His own life story is compelling; and has been the subject of numerous fictional accounts. And, of course he was murdered.
Lincoln’s time in the Oval Office also coincided with some of the earliest high-quality photography. The Civil War saw the first ever combat photography, and was extensively photographed. Lincoln was captured on film many times, in many striking portraits.
Widely available, high-quality photographs of Lincoln helped to make his appearance a matter of public record.
His signature is among the most valuable of all presidential autograpphs and consequential documents from his life are extremely valuable.
In 2012 a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln (and once owned by Robert F Kennedy) was sold for $3.7 million.
A signed copy of the 13th Amendment to the United States constitution (the abolition amendment) was auctioned in 2016 for $2.4 million.
Lincoln’s life – and particularly his death – looks likely to fascinate and reward collectors for decades to come.
