Lincoln Artifacts Auction Repays Debt

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum auctioned 144 artifacts linked to USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), including his blood-stained gloves, to repay an $8 million loan incurred in 2007 for purchasing a 1,540-item collection from Louise Taper for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The auction, held at Freeman s Hindman in Chicago, raised $7.9 million. Key items sold included Lincoln's gloves for $1.52 million, a handkerchief for $826,000, a 'Wanted' poster featuring John Wilkes Booth for $762,500, and an early handwriting sample for $521,200. The sale was necessitated by slow fundraising efforts and a lingering debt, despite the initial goal of boosting the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum's collection of physical curiosities. A controversial stovepipe hat, previously appraised at $6 million but later deemed inauthentic by a 2019 study reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, was not part of this auction.