A pair of gloves Abraham Lincoln carried as he was killed are the bloody highlights of an auction celebrating the murdered president’s life.
The white, kid-leather gloves are predicted to realise between $800,000 and $1.2 million at the Freeman’s Hindman Lincoln Legacy sale on May 21 in Chicago.
On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln went to Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC to take in a performance of Our American Cousin. There, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The President died the next morning.
Lincoln’s murder, along with his role in the Civil War and ending slavery in the US, make him the best-known and most collected US president.
A campaign flag for the Lincoln, Hamlin campaign of 1860, that will cost you around $2,000 if estimates are correct. Image courtesy of Freeman’s Hindman.
The Chicago sale will auction 140 items on behalf of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation.
The collection is expected to raise more than $4 million.
“Each of the items featured in this sale has been curated with care to reveal a nuanced and, at times, surprising portrait of the person who would become one of America’s greatest leaders,” Freeman’s Hindman CEO Alyssa Quinlan said.
Highlights include an early autograph from 1824 (Lincoln was born in 1809) that is predicted to make $300,000 to $400,000.
The only known copy of Lincoln’s first printed work, the Adams Handbill, is expected to make at least $200,000.
Lincoln is among the most collectible US presidents of them all.
Those with an interest in the night of the President’s death can also pick up a button worn on Lincoln’s cuff that night. The price? As much as $300,000.
Political memorabilia tends to be heavily tied to personality.
The names that attract the most money are those you would expect: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, and now (and increasingly with time) Trump.
The exceptional cases are those, like Kennedy, Lincoln, and James Garfield (who was also shot) whose lives were cut short. William Henry Harrison’s autograph is hugely prized because he died shortly after he was sworn in as president. Zahcary Taylor’s similarly short, illness-terminated term gives his signature value.
Lincoln’s achievements were towering despite the circumstances of his death, and the most valuable items associated with him are signed speeches and documents. If these gloves hit their top estimate they will become among the most valuable pieces specifically associated with his murder.
