Sale 2486, Part I - The Harold Holzer Collection of Lincolniana, September 27, 2018

“THE ACQUISITIONTHAT STARTED IT ALL” 1 c   (AUTOGRAPHS.) Envelope franked by Lincoln as a congressman. Envelope, 3 x 5 1 / 2 inches, signed “Free A. Lincoln M.C.”, addressed in his hand to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, and docketed in another hand “Letter to Wm Hart returned to Mr. L, Jany(?) 26 / 49”; quite browned and brittle, with 2 closed tears (one crossing Lincoln’s “Free”) and a 1 / 2 -inch area of loss to upper left corner, mount remnants on verso. [Washington?], 1849 [1,000/1,500] Lincoln had franking privileges as a member of Congress from 1847 to 1849. Although his franked presidential covers turn up periodically, not many of his Congressional covers from this period have survived. The most recent other example we have traced at auction was in 1964. Purchased by Holzer in the late 1960s “when barely out of my teens,” per his introduction to this catalogue: “the acquisition that started it all.” 2 c   (AUTOGRAPHS.) Commission for a militia officer signed by Lincoln shortly before the war. Partly-printed Document Signed, a commission made out to Albert Ray as a first lieutenant in the militia of the District of Columbia. One page, 9 1 / 2 x 13 1 / 2 inches, signed by Lincoln as President and Simon Cameron as Secretary of War, with embossed war office seal; mat toning, minor foxing, short separations at folds, light offsetting from tape repairs coming through from verso. Washington, 27 March 1861 [3,000/4,000] This commission was issued during Lincoln’s short window as peace-time president, 23 days after his inauguration and 16 days before Fort Sumter. Provenance: Charles Hamilton auction, 11 December 1969, where it was described in the catalogue as “the first [earliest] military commission we have seen . . . bearing an enormous signature of Lincoln, 3 1 / 2 ” long.” AUTOGRAPHS LOTS 1 - 10