Seed Pearl Necklace and Bracelets

[L Verge]

(03-15-2018 11:35 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Thanks for posting the abeandmarydag site Susan in your post #34.

Interesting to read why the defender of the photograph believes the "experts" are wrong, and that it is a photo of Abraham and Mary together.

If I were to defend the photo, I might argue that the height difference between Abraham and Mary was offset by the photographer by having Mary sit on a stool or seat that minimized that difference. The lack of a mole or wart on Lincoln's face is because Mary, in an act of vanity and because it was a histoirc inauguration photo, had it covered up by makeup or air brushed out of the original print.

In defense of Mary and her dress, she looks older than she is at the time the photo was taken due to stress. She probably didn't sleep much the night before, excited about her life long dream coming true, and at the same time worried about the safety of her husband. Something obviously must have happened to her original dress, someone may have spilled something on it, it got ruined when she slipped in the muddy streets, we will probably never know. She unhappily has to wear an unsuitable substitute for this picture,
Mary is so unhappy with her appearance in the photo that to avoid one of her famous temper tantrums, Lincoln has all negatives and prints destroyed, and this historic picture never reaches public circulation. This one is tucked away and never sees the light of day, forgotten to history, until it was recently discovered.


But, the owners of the picture have overlooked the possibility that this photo is more valuable than a picture of the Lincoln's on Inauguration Day. It is not a picture of Abraham and Mary at all, it is a picture of their substitutes. Worried about potential assassination plots, like the one in Baltimore, Pinkerton, Lamon and General Willard Scott (or is Winfield?) have a decoy Abraham and Mary appear in key places around Washington to draw attention away from the real Abraham and Mary. . Concerned about assassination attempts to keep Lincoln from being inaugurated and throwing the government into turmoil, this photo is not Abraham and Mary, but of their unknown, up until now, substitutes. In the excitement and confusion of the day, it is the decoy couple that mistakenly gets taken to be photographed for this historic event. Evidently Pinkerton's secret plan worked so well it has taken over 150 years for this deception to become revealed.

Then again, I could be wrong about this.

Wasn't there a modern movie several decades ago based on that same Presidential decoy theory?

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I had skimmed some of this thread before, but had not really perused the dag. As fate would have it, I spent a good portion of my day at work today trying to convince a gentleman from California via email that he does not have "definite" photos of Mary Surratt, John Surratt, Jr., or Isaac Surratt. I spend a lot of time looking at supposed photos like this (I can't count how many are so-called newly discovered ones of JWB). Several years ago, I was actually sued for stating that a death photo was not of AL.

That said, I clicked on Susan's link to the daguerreotype and read all the parts of the argument. Of course, right away, I was ready to announce that the couple had very little resemblance to the Presidential pair. I also noticed the similarity in height before reading the other letters. I also did not think that Mary's rather plain dress (what I would consider an afternoon dress or church-going dress) came anywhere close to being a ball gown of the 1861 era.

I did note that the person justifying the claim that it is the Lincolns even threw in the catch-words of "Mariah Vance" in order to attempt provenance. And finally, I wondered what Lincoln Day by Day says about Lincoln's activities between his swearing in and his attending the ball. For some reason, I thought the President went immediately back to the White House and began shaking hands in a rather informal reception??? Even if not, was there time to go to a photographer for a formal sitting - even if the photographer was able to set up his numerous pieces of equipment at the White House?

I heard Lloyd Ostendorf speak once (did not meet him), but I am friends with Dan Weinberg, and had Kim Bauer speak a few years ago at a Surratt Conference and found him very nice and very knowledgeable. If those three gents said that this photo was very likely not of the Lincolns, I would certainly back off.

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From historynewsnetwork.org: In his inaugural address Lincoln claimed, "No government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination." The New York Times wrote that "from the fiery trial the loose federation emerged as a compact nation, which makes this the most significant inauguration after that of Washington." President Lincoln then proceeded to the White House where he received the Diplomatic Corps and well wishers. The inaugural events concluded when Lincoln and the rest of the presidential party made their appearance at the inaugural ball that was held the same evening.