Heritage Auctions

[Anita]

Heritage Auctions is having a special auction of Lincoln items on Feb. 12 for Lincoln's birthday.
Here's the press release:

https://www.ha.com/heritage-auctions-pre...aseId=4393

There are a lot of items from the late Blaine Houmes' collection on the auction block. The preview started today. Blaine was a former forum member here and avid collector.

It's free to create an account so you can preview all the items!

[Abraham Lincoln Assassination] Mary Todd Lincoln: Black Lace Veil Worn on the Night of the Assassination. Sold together with an authenticating note signed by Elizabeth Keckley, her noted African-American dressmaker, friend and confidante. Upon leaving Washington in May 1865, Mary Lincoln distributed personal mementoes of herself and her husband to a number of friends and favored staff; she gave the earrings, bonnet, and cloak that she had worn to Ford's Theatre to Mrs. Keckley, a former slave whose book Behind the Scenes (1868) furnishes an invaluable glimpse into the Lincoln White House. Mrs. Keckley kept her various Lincoln relics until 1890, when she sold them to Charles F. Gunther. Present here is the bonnet veil, measuring about 18" x 26", woven in an intricate blossom and floral motif with a perimeter of undulating interwoven lines; it is slightly frayed in a few spots along the border, resulting in some small losses and loosened thread, but is otherwise remarkably well preserved considering its delicate nature and age. The veil is accompanied by an extraordinarily rare autograph of Elizabeth Keckley, signed to a small authenticating note (the text in an unidentified hand; no place or date) which reads "This veil was worn the night of A. Lincoln assassination by Mrs. Lincoln. Elizabeth Keckley." A superior Lincoln relic, with an impeccable and distinguished history of ownership.


Provenance: Mary Lincoln; Elizabeth Keckley, via W. H. Lowdermilk of Washington, D.C., to Charles F. Gunther; Oliver Barrett Sale, lot 666; Townsend; Turner, lot 86. From The Collection of Dr. Blaine Houmes