Melvin "Pete" Mark 1926-2017

[Thomas Lapsley]

Melvin "Pete" Mark. a noted businessman in the Portland, OR area, has passed away on June 1 at the age of 91. He was a collector of Presidential artifacts, many pertaining to Abraham Lincoln. Among them was a piece of the red fabric from the rocking chair Lincoln sat on when he was shot. The relic along with some of his other Lincoln items were on display at the Oregon Historical Society Museum in 2013.

[RJNorton]

Tom, thank you for posting the sad news.

There is an obituary for Mr. Mark here.

[LincolnMan]

It must have been a very small piece of fabric-as I've seen the chair many times and did not note any part missing.

[RJNorton]

Bill, I tried to find out about this. Here is an article that speculates on how some fabric may have been removed.

"Johnson says the unthinkable happened at another famous museum along the way, as the chair was kept in a storage closet

From what we understand, people who worked at the Smithsonian probably, custodians or people like that, used it as kind of a break area," Johnson says. He says this likely happened around the end of the 19th century, and that they'd sit in the chair, got lots of hair grease on it and might have even taken off pieces to keep as relics."

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/archive/278846-story

[Anita]

Here's an article that shows the condition of the chair just out of the box addressed to Henry Ford. " In January 1930, the chair arrived at Greenfield Village in a crate addressed: “Mr. Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.” Ford was so ecstatic with his new acquisition that he had the chair’s unpacking filmed. Grainy footage depicts two men removing paper and padding to reveal the artifact, which was housed in the courthouse until 1980, when it was moved into the museum." https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/ins...ln-rocker/

Given the neglect from the time of Lincoln's assassination to Jan. 1930 and the the number of potential " original pieces of history" collectors who had access to the chair, it's highly likely pieces could have been removed.

[LincolnMan]

Without proper documentation any such fabric would be considered worthless, I would think.

[L Verge]

(06-13-2017 08:21 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Without proper documentation any such fabric would be considered worthless, I would think.

I agree, Bill. How much do we know about how carefully "Pete" scrutinized things he collected. A certain doctor (now deceased) sometimes bought pigs in a poke just because he thought they were related to Lincoln and the assassination. He was also competing with two other well-known collectors and tried to beat them to the punch.

I have never seen the chair up close and personal, but those defects certainly seem to be wear and tear marks, not deliberate snippings for souvenirs. My mother used to do that type of upholstering, and there were no loose ends tucked on the underside that could have been cut off and gone undetected.

Right now, I am dealing with someone who wants us to buy two quilts that were supposedly made by Mary Surratt, one is signed in cross-stitch and dated 1859 directly on the quilt. However, the fabrics are pristine and look like they never saw the light of day since 1859; the dye colors appear to be of the mid-19th century; but, there is no clear provenance that leads back to any of the Surratts; and my quilt expert thinks they look too good to be true. We have only photos to work from right now.

We have no record of Mary working on anything other than routine sewing, and by the time of her trial, her daughter and Aunt Rachel testified to her poor eyesight making it necessary for them to assist her in sewing (such as threading the needle for her).

The current owner claims that a DC doctor bought the quilts from a sale in that city in 1918. Anna died in 1904, her family was in Baltimore, she had only one daughter, Clara, who never married. We acquired Mary's desk via a cousin of Clara's who inherited it directly from Clara. That's the kind of provenance I'm looking for!