ALPLM Cuts Ties With Library Foundation By SEAN CRAWFORD • APR 1, 2021

[David Lockmiller]

Abraham Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat is Wrong Size, No Evidence It Actually Belonged to Him, 16-Month State Study Finds

BY MELISSA LEMIEUX 12/23/19

That study, undertaken by Illinois State Historian Samuel Wheeler, shows that there's no solid connection between the hat and any sign of ownership by the president.

In fact, the hat was at one point sold for $1 at an antique shop in 1950s, and the original seller had no material proof that it was Lincoln's. From that store, Lincoln artifact collector and Illinois state-employed curator of Lincoln artifacts for preservation James Hickey bought the hat. He then sold the hat to Lincoln artifact collector and eventual one-time museum board member Louise Taper, for an undisclosed sum. She in turn sold it to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, which bought it for the museum. At appraisal, it was later declared to be worth $6.5 million, part of the $25 million cache of artifacts used to establish the museum.