escort to Springfield

[David Lockmiller]

The pair of German opera glasses carried by President Lincoln at the 14 April 1865 performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre—the evening he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Fully functional man's opera glasses of German manufacture (the original case, in the Ford's Theatre National Park Collection, stamped "Gebruder Strausshof Optiker | Berlin"); black-enameled telescoping ocular tubes, gilt metal central spindle with composition focus gear, gilt metal fittings and inner ocular tubes, four ground glass lenses (two 1/2 in. and 2 1 3/8 in. in diameter), lathe-turned threaded eyepieces; one eyepiece a bit askew and with a tiny crack in its lens, the other with a tiny chip. Approximately 4 in. wide, 2 3/4 in. deep when closed (3 3/4 in. deep when fully extended), 1 1/2 in. high.

PROVENANCE--

Captain (later Major) James M. McCamly (died 1 September 1878) — Sarah C. McCamly, his widow — Sarah M. Hartt, her granddaughter — Robert C. Hartt, her son (the foregoing family provenance is supported by an accompanying dossier of documents, including affadavits, copies of James McCamly's military and pension records, a 1968 Smithsonian Institution report, and other documents mentioned above) — acquired, through the offices of Ralph Geoffrey Newman, by Roy P. Crocker (The Roy P. Crocker Historical Document Collection of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, Sotheby's, 28 November 1979, lot 251) — purchased by Malcolm Forbes (The Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents, Christie's, 27 March 2002, lot 106)