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Maine Antique Digest, December 2016 9-B
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AUCTION -
9-B
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Henry Clay Gold Medal Tops Lincoln Auction
by Susan Emerson Nutter
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
I
sn’t it interesting thatAbrahamLincoln
is one of our country’s most beloved
presidents? He was shy and reserved
and not a blowhard or attention-junkie by
any means, and surely his “everyman”
ways struck a chord. It definitely has
where collecting anything related to
Honest Abe is concerned.
Heritage Auctions’ September 17 event
titled “Lincoln and His Times” made
evident not only that anything Lincoln has
value, but that anything related to Lincoln
does as well.
The main attraction of the day was
not something made for or concerning
Lincoln at all, but the massive U.S. Mint
medal of “Pure California Gold” struck
for presentation to Henry Clay was
Lincoln related.
Tom Slater, director of Americana
auctions for Heritage, stated, “We
included the ‘and His Times’ in the tagline
for this Lincoln auction because of items
like this presentation medal. Lincoln
idolized Henry Clay. It is only fitting that
it be included.”
So was this idolization of Clay by
Lincoln the deciding factor that enabled
this medal to earn a final price (with
buyer’s premium) of $346,000? “Yes
and no,” Slater stated. “Gold is always
an attraction,” though the gold value
of this lot at the time of sale was about
$35,000 to $45,000. However, when the
medal’s historical value is added to the
gold value…the piece’s desirability was
undeniable.
But wait. There’s more.
“And there is a whole collecting group
that wants United States Mint medals,”
Slater stated, adding, “There is only one
other U.S. Mint medal that has ever sold
for more than this Henry Clay example.”
Slater suggests that interested parties
read through the extensive catalog listing
for this piece to fully understand the
connection with Lincoln, and as always,
Heritage Auctions’ sale catalogs are
reference guides in their own right.
So the medal wasn’t a world-record
price at auction, but a Lincoln signed carte
de visite was when it sold for $175,000.
Not only was this image the work of
Mathew Brady capturing Lincoln in an
unordinary, thoughtful pose, and not only
is Lincoln’s signature “A. Lincoln” on the
lower border spectacular, but on the back
there is the inscription of presidential
secretary John Hay stating, “I certify the
Presidents signature is genuine. [signed]
John Hay.”
Hard to argue with that.
So it is known that Lincoln idolized
Henry Clay. It is known that John Hay was
his presidential secretary. But a somewhat
little-known fact about Lincoln is his
having a fiancée before his becoming
engaged to and marrying Mary Todd.
Offered for sale by Heritage was a
December 13, 1836, letter from Lincoln to
Mary S. Owens (1808-1877). Heritage’s
catalog listing explains that Owens, “a
well-educated daughter of a wealthy
Kentucky planter, first visited New
Salem, Illinois, in 1833 to visit her sister,
Mrs. Bennett (Betsey) Abell (circa 1804-
?), with whom Lincoln boarded for a time.
She and Lincoln first met during this visit
and the latter was apparently impressed
by his landlady’s self-confident, fun-
loving, and sophisticated sister. Mrs.
Abell agreed to invite Mary back to New
Salem if Lincoln agreed to marry her, a
proposal that he apparently accepted.
What is not clear is whether Lincoln’s
agreement to the proposal was serious or
given in jest. Nevertheless, Mary Owens
returned to New Salem in 1836 and lived
in the village until 1838, during which
time Lincoln moved to Springfield,
Illinois. Sometime during her first year
in New Salem, she and Lincoln came to
some sort of understanding concerning
marriage. Yet the relationship showed
signs of strain, with Lincoln, awkward
and uncomfortable in the presence of
women his age (both he and Mary were
24 years of age), unsure of his romantic
feelings toward Mary and her intentions
toward him.” The letter sold for $137,500.
Then there were the items that were
just a tad creepy. Still, since they were
“There is only one other
U.S. Mint medal that has
ever sold for more than
this Henry Clay example.”
This United States Mint medal struck
for presentation to Henry Clay sold for
$346,000 at HeritageAuctions on September
17. Large in size at 3½" diameter and ½"
thick and nearly 30 ounces in weight, this
“Pure California Gold” medal impressed
bidders. The medal was presented to Clay
in 1852 in recognition of his half-century
of public service. The medal was included
in the “Lincoln and His Times” auction, as
Henry Clay was, in Lincoln’s own words,
his “ideal of a great man.”
Talk about special! This work of Mathew
Brady of Lincoln in an uncommon pose,
signed by Lincoln, with the signature
verified in writing on the reverse by
presidential secretary John Hay sold for
$175,000.
It is not really known if Lincoln and Mary
Owens were truly engaged or if they had
an understanding between them, but the
more interesting aspect of the letter Lincoln
wrote to Owens on December 13, 1836,
shows insight into the future president’s
personality. “Lincoln was only 27 at the
time,” stated Tom Slater of Heritage
Auctions. “But the reader can see in his
words Lincoln’s social awkwardness, his
shyness. That he had a tendency to become
introspective, even depressing, gives the
reader insight into his personality.” The
letter, which made $137,500, “would have
brought more if not for a significant stain,”
Slater noted.As the catalog listing states, this
“letter is one of our 16th president’s earliest
surviving missives,” and “It is the first of
three written to Owens, and is considered
very significant by Lincoln scholars for the
insight it gives us into Lincoln the man.”
Another Abraham Lincoln signed carte
de visite sold this day, this one the work of
Alexander Gardner in Washington, D.C.,
on August 9, 1863. Five portraits were
taken during the same photo shoot, with
this example showing Lincoln holding a
newspaper in one hand and his eyeglasses in
the other. It sold for $75,000. Lincoln signed
the CDV on the lower blank border “A.
Lincoln.”
This black silk mourning dress ensemble
worn by Mary Todd Lincoln sold for
$100,000.
This Stephen A. Douglas cotton portrait flag, 8½" x 13½", features a portrait of Douglas
in the canton on the wrong side of the flag surrounded by 13 stars. It sold for $93,750. The
words “Douglas and Johnson. People’s Rights” appear on two white stripes of the flag.
Heritage knows of only one other such example that exists, but that flag has the canton in
the normal left corner. Heritage notes that this flag was “one of the signature items
in the collection of the late Judge Lynn Griffith.”