LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction Quality Autograph Auction 361  / 

12

Franklin Pierce

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 22,500.00 USD
Franklin Pierce

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2010 Sep 15 @ 22:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, 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
Extremely rare Riggs & Co. bank check, 7.25 x 2.75, filled out in another hand and signed by Pierce, payable to Self for $300.00, March 24, 1857. Archivally matted and framed with a seated portrait of Pierce to an overall size of 14 x 20.5. In fine, bright condition, with cancellation cut to body, and some trivial paper loss to lower right edge.

The scarcity and desirability of a Pierce signed check, particularly one dating from shortly after the close of his presidency, is well known among presidential collectors. Pierce was undoubtedly glad to leave the trappings of public office, as well as the nation’s capital, when he wrote this check. The former first lady’s recurrent bout with tuberculosis forced the family to delay their return to New England for three weeks, but eventually departed on March 25—one day after collecting this $300 for himself—and traveled to Philadelphia, where they spent six weeks in a hotel while Jane Pierce consulted with a doctor. In May they moved on to New York City for a week’s visit with former governor and senator Hamilton Fish before Pierce finally arrived in New Hampshire in early June. Pierce spent the remaining 12 years of his life retired from political life and traveling extensively overseas with his wife. Having earned the modern equivalent of $500,000 a year during his single term in office and investing his income so to be worth more than $1.5 million in current dollars, the 14th US president was easily able to afford to remain out of the political fray and gather this $300 in ‘pocket change.’ This significant and remarkably valuable check—one of only two to be offered in an auction in more than 30 years—last sold at Christie’s in 2005 for $22,000.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot