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George Washington

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
George Washington

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Auction Date:2013 Jun 19 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
Beautifully penned and highly desirable ALS as president, signed “Go: Washington,” one page, 7.25 x 7, Philadelphia, June 16, 1793. Letter to Miles Merwin. In full: “Your letter of the 13th inst. came duly to hand. I thank you for making a tender of your services to me to supply the place of Mr. Lear. At present I have no intention of adding any one to my family for this purpose. I am—Sir, Your very Hble Servt.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, slightly trimmed edges (impinging on one word of text and the tail of Washington’s signature), and light show-through from a docketing notation on reverse, done in an unknown hand.

Having served as Washington’s personal secretary and right-hand man since 1784, Tobias Lear decided to leave his post at the beginning of the president’s second term in 1793. He started T. Lear & Company, focused on land speculation in Washington, DC, and the promotion of river traffic to the soon-to-be nation’s capitol with Washington’s Potomac Company; unfortunately, the venture quickly proved unsuccessful, leading to immense financial difficulties that would continue to plague Lear for the remainder of his life. When Miles Merwin, former teacher at the Friends' Latin School in Philadelphia and instructor of Martha’s grandson George Washington Parke Custis, wrote to Washington offering his “services…to supply the place of Mr. Lear,” the president showed his loyalty to his former secretary, rejecting the offer with this letter—he left the position open, and Lear returned the following year, remaining until Washington’s death in 1797. An incredibly scarce and beautifully penned letter from the hand of the America’s first president, holding a place for his much-beloved Mr. Lear.