The 1998 Spittoon Debate in the Lincoln home.

[RJNorton]

I do not know what they might be, but since Abraham Lincoln was not known to chew tobacco I sort of doubt the family would have spittoons in their sitting room. My image of Mary Lincoln is that she would not have allowed such, but possibly when large groups of people visited the home, spittoons were retrieved from storage and placed in that room. But I tend to doubt they were there on a daily basis.