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Mary, Queen of Scots

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Mary, Queen of Scots

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Auction Date:2015 Jul 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
LS in French, signed as widow of Francis, “Marie,” one page both sides, 11.25 x 13.75, February 23, [1561]. Untranslated letter concerning a payment, crisply signed at the conclusion in ink by Mary and countersigned by her secretary Claude Leparchemynier and controller general Luc Provencherd. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, scattered creases, and some soiling and staining to the margins. From the collection of Augustin Dubrunfaut, lot 120, April 2, 1887. Accompanied by an unsigned engraved portrait.

Widowed in 1560 by the Dauphin, the young Mary left France for Scotland in August of the following year; this present document, issued from Fontainebleau, dates to the brief nine-month period between the king’s death and her departure. Torn between Catholic and Protestant factions, Scotland provided a dangerous and complex political scene with which Mary was entirely unfamiliar; though a devout Catholic, she accepted the newly established Protestant ascendancy, causing both factions to regard her with suspicion. Anxious to gain control and ambitious for the English throne, she married her first cousin, Lord Darnley, in 1565. An exceedingly rare signed document dating from the time Mary made the decision to return to Scotland, this is a remarkable royal piece of the utmost desirability.