Arts & Entertainment

Abraham Lincoln’s Stained Gloves From Night of Assassination Sell for $1.2M at Chicago Auction

A pair of stained gloves, which were tucked in Abraham Lincoln’s pocket when he was assassinated, sold for $1.2 million at an auction in West Loop on Wednesday.

A selection of 144 items owned by the Lincoln Presidential Foundation chronicling Lincoln’s personal and political life went up for sale at the auction house Freeman’s and Hindman. 

In total, the auction saw 136 of 144 items sold for just over $6.2 million, not including auction fees, according to the auction house. The auction house anticipated the items to bring in about $4 million at its low estimate. 

Here were the highest-sold items, not including auction fees:

1.) Sold for $1.2 million: A pair of stained leather gloves carried by Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre the night of his assassination. Estimated at $800,000 - $1.2 million.

2.) Sold for $650,000:  A handkerchief carried by Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on the night of his assassination. Estimated at $100,000 - $200,000.

3.) Sold for $600,000: A poster showing a $100,000 reward for Lincoln’s at-large assassin. Estimated at $80,000 - $120,000.

4.) Sold for $410,000: A double-sided “sum book” page with the earliest known example of Lincoln’s writing from when he was about 15 years old. Estimated at $300,000 - $400,000.

5.) Sold for $350,000: A cuff button with the initial ‘L’ removed from Lincoln’s wrist by Dr. Charles Sabin Taft as he searched for the president’s pulse after he was shot. Estimated at $200,000 - $300,000.

6.) Sold for $300,000: An orchestra ticket stub for a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre the night of Lincoln’s assassination. Estimated at $50,000 - $70,000.

7.) Sold for $200,000: An oval bust portrait of Lincoln by photographer Alexander Hesler containing a blind stamp, “113 Lake St., Chicago.” Estimated at $100,000 - $150,000.

8.) Sold for $180,000: An autograph letter signed by Lincoln to legislator Jesse Norton regarding Lincoln’s first and unsuccessful run for a U.S. Senate seat. Estimated at $120,000 - 180,000.

9.) Sold for $140,000: The Adams Handbill, Lincoln’s anonymous political handbill that is the only known surviving copy of Lincoln’s first printed work. Estimated at $200,000 - $300,000.

10.) Sold for: $140,000: Lincoln’s “Bass-Ackwards” manuscript, a tongue-twister about a fishing expedition gone awry that serves as an example of Lincoln’s frontier humor. Estimated at $200,000 - $300,000.

When including auction fees, the total amount for the 136 of 144 items sold comes at nearly $7.9 million. 

The Lincoln Presidential Foundation in Springfield decided to sell the items to pay off the remainder of a loan it took out in order to acquire a broader Lincolniana collection also known as the Taper Collection, which the foundation purchased with a $23 million loan in 2007.

The auctioning of some of the items in the collection drew criticism from the items’ former owner Louise Taper in a series of emails with WBEZ. Taper said she was appalled. “My intent was for these historic items to reside in a place for the public to enjoy and learn from,” Taper told WBEZ.

The items chosen for the auction represent less than 10% of the foundation’s 1,540-item collection of Lincolniana, the foundation said. The foundation has a remaining loan balance of $7.8 million, reported the Illinois Times.

“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,” the Lincoln Presidential Foundation said in a statement in March. “Any excess funds will go toward our continued care and display of our extensive collection.”

Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]

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