25107

Abraham Lincoln. Lengthy Autograph Endorsement Abraham Lincoln. Lengthy Autograph Endorsement Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 6,500.00 USD
Abraham Lincoln. Lengthy Autograph Endorsement Abraham Lincoln. Lengthy Autograph Endorsement Signed
<B>Abraham Lincoln. Lengthy Autograph Endorsement Signed "A. Lincoln for Defts." </B></I> No place or date (probably Sangamon Co., Ill., ca 1855), two pages, folio, on blue paper. The main text, in an unknown hand, is signed by A. Johnston and comprises the last page of a once-longer deposition in a lawsuit involving cast iron tombs. Johnston, who was a prominent Springfield monument-maker, unsurprisingly declares that "compared with…ordinary marble tombstones" the cast-iron kind are "of little or no value" and although he dodges a question as to their difference in cost, he does admit that the best quality of tombstone, Italian marble, would cost $3 "per superficial foot" including "socket and lettering in the best style but not carving." Asked if any cast iron tombs are "in use about Springfield" he replies "none that I know of." At the foot of the document, Lincoln has penned a statement that: <I>"The parties in this case agree that the above depositions, so far as the questions and answers are proper, may be used in evidence in the cause…and also in the case of William H. Young against Reuben Miller now pending in the Logan county circuit court."</B></I> Interestingly it was Johnston who repaired Lincoln's sarcophagus when it was damaged in an 1876 attempt to steal the President's remains. Brownish staining nearly blots out the final word in Lincoln's endorsement ("court") and covers his signature, which nevertheless is quite readable. From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection.