In what seemed like a bidding war steeped in history, a collection of Abraham Lincoln artifacts was sold for nearly $8 million at a Chicago auction. The Lincoln Presidential Foundation, which found itself bogged down by a hefty debt, decided to part ways with about 10% of its collection of Lincoln memorabilia, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times. Among the items auctioned off, a pair of blood-stained gloves that Lincoln wore on the night of his assassination fetched a record $1.51 million.
With the identity of the high rollers shrouded in secrecy, an enigmatic "Paddle 1231" snagged not only those gloves but also a cornucopia of other Lincoln relics, running up a bill of $4 million. As reported by WGN-TV, the auction featured about 144 historical items that told the story of Abraham Lincoln, with 136 eventually sold. Despite efforts to pin down their identity, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the first lady, known for their penchant for Lincoln pieces, remained tight-lipped about whether they were behind the paddle number.
The auction, branded as "one of the most important presidential sales in the history of live auctions" by Christopher Brink from Freeman’s Hindman Auctions, saw other significant items like a monogrammed cuff button from Lincoln's assassination suit and a sample of the president’s writing from his teenage years, pull in six-figure sums themselves.
While the auction was a financial lifeline for the struggling Lincoln Presidential Foundation, it came at a personal cost to collector Louise Taper. Selling her relics to the foundation in 2007, the artifacts found their way from her hands to the auction block, an outcome she had not anticipated. “I am appalled,” Taper lamented, sharing her dismay with the Chicago Sun-Times, about the fate of the collection that was once loaned to the state-run Lincoln presidential museum, now housing it away from public eyes. Marsha Malinowski, a manuscripts expert, echoed this sentiment, pointing out the foundation would net only about 75% of the auction's proceeds after fees, and added, "I just don't know...if that's going to be able to take care of their woes."
Nonetheless, the foundation, in its last public tax filing, reported still grappling with $7.8 million in loans by the end of 2024 – a sum roughly translated to the auction's earnings.
