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Marquis de Lafayette

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Marquis de Lafayette

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Auction Date:2017 Oct 11 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Brilliant golden shoe buckle presented as a gift by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The ornate gold-tone buckle measures .75 x .75 and bears a detailed raised floral pattern and two closures on the swivel backing. The buckle is mounted to an off-white 4 x 3.75 period sheet relaying its provenance, in full: “Received from Mary Jane Ann Simms, Grand daughter of Nathan Smith, whose first wife was a niece of Martha Custis W.—Washington D.C., Oct. 1874. Julia A Wilbur.” An additional docket beneath the buckle reads, in full: “This gold shoe Buckle is one of a pair given by Gen. LaFayette to a lady who danced at his Ball. He brought from France several pairs & gave them to the ladies.” The sheet is affixed to a slightly larger card. In fine condition.

Deriving from a niece of Martha Washington, this small buckle was presented by Lafayette sometime during either his illustrious postwar trip to America in 1784 or during his grand nationwide tour of 1824–25, occasions which prompted no shortage of celebratory get-togethers. In addition to being a noted suffragette and relief worker for the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Julia Ann Wilbur (1815–1895) was a detailed diarist who kept journals spanning nearly her entire life. Within her entries Wilbur made note of her various keepsakes, one of which, dated to November 18, 1865, included a silk swatch of flag once belonging to Lafayette. A small yet striking benefaction, as well as a fetching post-Revolution relic denoting the grace and generosity of the beloved Lafayette.