One of the topics discussed during Jim Garrett's (excellent) presentation at the Surratt Convention was which missing relic of the assassination would bring the highest price were it found today and put up for auction.
Rich Symth had (in my opinion) the best answer in the pistol used by Boston Corbett to kill JWB.
In thinking about this at 5:15 this morning while waiting for my dog to do his business (is there any less dignified position for an adult to be in that on the other end of a leash waiting for an animal to take a poop? - I can't think of one) I came up with these two:
1. The calling card Booth gave to Charles Forbes (assuming he used a card and gave it to Forbes);
2. Booth's hat that was left behind at Ford's when he jumped to the stage.
3. The boat that Booth and Herold crossed the Potomac with (mainly HEROLD crossed. If you ever get the chance to go down to the shore at Dent's Meadow and see for yourself how truly wide the river is at this point, it is a marvel to consider that Herold and Booth EVER got to Virginia. Recall that they only had two oars, and that Booth used one of them as a rudder. This of course means that Herold rowed all that way, through the swift current, with one oar. I'll bet he could hardly lift his arms when they got to Namjoy creek, much less to Virginia.)
NOTE: I added an aerial view to the bottom corner of the picture to give those who are unfamiliar with Dent's Meadow some perspective. The red ring is where B and H set out. If you look closely you can see a very small looking boat in the middle of the river to give you some sense of how wide it is there.
In thinking about the calling card, I wondered if Forbes kept this (even in secret) following the assassination? While you would think that he trashed it as either evidence against his negligence or a painful reminder of that night, it seems the kind of object that one in Forbes' position might secretly stash away for any number of reasons, the main one being that it was a tie to Lincoln - even though a painful tie.
This card seems the type that might be found one day going through Forbes' family documents in the same way that the death photo was found in the 1950's. It made me wonder if anyone has ever researched Forbes and whether he left behind anything that has survived in his family or a collection to today.
Heath
Most valuable missing assassination relic