Clark Mills' Lincoln Life Mask

[Dave Taylor]

I'm trying to figure out when Abraham Lincoln sat for his life mask with sculptor Clark Mills. It's clear the mask was made in February of 1865. Most sources give the date of creation as February 11 and associate this date with Theodore Augustus Mills, Clark's eldest son. However, in June of 1865, Clark's second son, Theophilus Fisk Mills, applied for a patent for a bust of Lincoln based on the life mask. In that document, Fisk gives the date the life mask was created as February 14, exactly two months before Lincoln's assassination.

I don't have the largest library when it comes to the living Lincoln. Does anyone have a good source for the claim that Lincoln sat for the mask on February 11 rather than the 14th?

[Gene C]

I checked "Lincoln Day By Day" by Earl S Miers in the Internet Archive.
No mention of Lincoln sitting for his life mask on any of those days.

https://archive.org/details/lincolndayby...2/mode/2up