M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans has acquired a set of opera glasses believed to have been dropped by Abraham Lincoln as he was shot on April 14th, 1865. The gallery in the French Quarter is asking for $795,000 for this relic of Lincolniana.

Link to the article:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/natio...65655.html

(09-28-2018, 11:16 AM)Thomas Kearney Wrote: M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans has acquired a set of opera glasses believed to have been dropped by Abraham Lincoln as he was shot on April 14th, 1865. The gallery in the French Quarter is asking for $795,000 for this relic of Lincolniana.

Link to the article:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/natio...65655.html

I guess the ALPLM folks won't be interested... and, I agree with the NPS spokesperson in 2011 (Gloria Swift??).

(09-28-2018, 03:58 PM)L Verge Wrote:

(09-28-2018, 11:16 AM)Thomas Kearney Wrote: M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans has acquired a set of opera glasses believed to have been dropped by Abraham Lincoln as he was shot on April 14th, 1865. The gallery in the French Quarter is asking for $795,000 for this relic of Lincolniana.

Link to the article:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/natio...65655.html

I guess the ALPLM folks won't be interested... and, I agree with the NPS spokesperson in 2011 (Gloria Swift??).

Go here for a nice write-up from 2012: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/16363 And I guessed right - the later NPS spokesperson with doubts was Gloria Swift (a great historian!).

Seems a bit weird to me to need/use opera glasses from the presidential box to watch a comedy. It's not really that far away from the stage. When you sit that close anyway you might use it to closely watch a ballerinas' foot technique or a pianists' fingers. But I wouldn't even bring them to a comedy unless I knew sat somewhere in the last row under the roof.

(09-28-2018, 05:58 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Seems a bit weird to me to need/use opera glasses from the presidential box to watch a comedy. It's not really that far away from the stage. When you sit that close anyway you might use it to closely watch a ballerinas' foot technique or a pianists' fingers. But I wouldn't even bring them to a comedy unless I knew sat somewhere in the last row under the roof.

In A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours W. Emerson Reck talks about papers falling from Lincoln's pockets as he was carried across the street. He mentions the papers were picked up by Capt. Edwin E. Bedee. No mention of opera glasses in the street. No mention of a man named Capt. James McCamly.

I also questioned how large the pockets were in the City Guards' uniform that this Capt. could forget the glasses were in one of his. They may be tiny compared to field glasses, but certainly they were large enough to make the fabric bulge...

They are bulky, and HEAVY, and you need quite a large handbag if you also want to "store" a wallet and other "necessities".

Relying on my memory from many readings and without going through my library of Lincoln books, I thought Lincoln's heavy long Brooks Brothers overcoat and his shirt were cut away and removed while still in Box 8. If so, I doubt the opera glasses were in a pants pocket so as to later fall out. They would have been either on the balustrade or in his lap. Although it is possible, it does not seem reasonable the glasses fell from a pocket while being carried. One of the doctors present, Leale I think, reportedly straddled the supine body to administer an antiquated form of artificial respiration. The glasses could have been brushed aside or fallen away at that point. While Reck speaks of papers falling from his pockets, that too may be questionable if only Lincoln's pants were in place when carried out. I find it hard to believe the glasses were anyplace other than remaining in Box 8.

I agree with Eva

I’m not paying 795 large based on that provenance! How do we know they weren’t Rathbone’s?

I’m in N.O. this weekend and a few blocks from that shop. Like everythinG on Royal, greatly inflated prices.

I agree with Gloria Swift. Chances are very slim these were in the President's possession. If they were picked up on 10th St, they really could have belonged to any one of the 1700 people in the theatre. The provenance is every bit as good as the provenance for the spur which came off Booth's boot on the stage, which is at the Naval Academy Museum, except the spur dates to about 1880.

I wonder if these are the same opera glasses? If so, they have a different provenance than the McCalmy to Forbes to Kaper pair (I think) in the beginning of the thread.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M-1FJqywnx8/V...lasses.JPG

---

Hmmm... seems the market for assassinated emancipators' opera glasses has softened:

http://prev.dailyherald.com/story/?id=162568 From 2008.