Artifacts tied to Honest Abe hit the auction block Thursday, with some bearing a striking resemblance to items from a vast collection that a private foundation once acquired for display at the state-run Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
The sale at the Chicago-based Freeman’s auction house includes rare manuscripts, documents, and other memorabilia related to the life and legacy of the 16th president.
Some notable items include a bust of Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg previously owned by Marilyn Monroe, another bust of Ulysses Grant, and locks of hair purportedly taken from the head of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth after he was fatally shot during a manhunt.
These items were once owned by wealthy West Coast historian and Lincoln collector Louise Taper, who sold her collection in 2007 to what now is the Lincoln Presidential Foundation for $23 million with hopes her artifacts would become state property and forever displayed at the state-run presidential museum in Lincoln’s hometown.
Instead, many of her iconic pieces of Lincolniana have landed in the hands of unknown buyers after an auction last May raised nearly $8 million, and more may be going that way imminently.
Taper was sharply critical of that last auction, which included the sale of blood-stained gloves from Lincoln's coat pocket the night he was assassinated. She said she was “appalled” at the foundation’s willingness to sell off pieces of her prized collection.
“My intent was for these historic items to reside in a place for the public to enjoy and learn from,” she told WBEZ last spring.
Neither the foundation nor Freeman’s would confirm whether Thursday’s auction included more items from Taper’s former collection and, if so, what the rationale was behind selling more Lincoln artifacts.
All told, 190 items are for sale, including a handful of relics tied to George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Theodore Roosevelt. But Lincoln artifacts represent the bulk of the
