The Lincoln Presidential Foundation sold off 144 pieces of memorabilia at auction this week, including bloodstained gloves and a John Wilkes Booth wanted poster.
Auction house Freeman’s | Hindman said in a release that it sold 94% of the 144 lots of President Abraham Lincoln-related memorabilia on Wednesday for a total of $7,899,994, including buyer’s premium, nearly doubling the presale estimate of $4 million.
A pair of gloves Lincoln had in his pocket on the night of his assassination, stained with blood, sold for $1,512,500 and were the highest-selling lot. A gold and black cuff button with the letter “L” on it that was taken off Lincoln’s wrist as Dr. Charles Sabin Taft searched for the president’s pulse sold for $445,000, Freeman’s | Hindman said.
A reward poster for assassin John Wilkes Booth went for $762,500 and a ticket stub for the showing of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre the night of the assassination sold for $381,500, while a page from a copy book the future president used to do math as a boy sold for $521,200.
The page also featured the young Lincoln’s wit — in a corner of the page, he wrote “Abraham Lincoln is my name / And with my pen I wrote / the same / I wrote in both haste and speed / and left it here for fools / to read.”
The gloves, poster, ticket and page set auction records for the highest amount paid for a Lincoln assassination relic, John Wilkes Booth wanted poster and record of early Lincoln handwriting, respectively.
The nonprofit foundation acquired its 1,540 piece collection in 2007 for about $25 million, taking out a loan to do so according to the New York Times.
Lincoln Presidential Foundation CEO Erin Mast said in the auction house’s release that “proceeds from the sale will be used to satisfy our obligation to retire the outstanding loan balance from the Foundation’s purchase of the collection. Any excess funds will go toward our continued care and display of our extensive collection.
The person who sold the collection to the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, however, is displeased that the “Lincolniana” was sold.
“I am appalled. My intent was for these historic items to reside in a place for the public to enjoy and learn from,” original collector Louise Taper told WBEZ-FM, a Chicagoland NPR affiliate.
The collection was displayed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois until they were removed in 2022 due to disputes between the foundation and the state-operated museum.
