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Woodrow Wilson’s Typewriter Brush

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
Woodrow Wilson’s Typewriter Brush

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Auction Date:2014 Sep 17 @ 11:00 (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
President Wilson’s personally-owned and -used ornate silver typewriter eraser brush, measuring 1 x 2.75, featuring a beautiful ornate handle engraved in the domed center with his initials, “W. W.,” which holds the brush’s horsehair bristles and topped with a rubber eraser. Includes a detailed letter of provenance on White House letterhead from best selling author, Lillian Rogers Parks, who was a housekeeper and seamstress at the White House for over 30 years, from Hoover through Eisenhower. In part: “I would like to write this letter by hand. But, after working at the White House with my ‘Mama,’ Maggie Rogers, from the time of President Taft until President Eisenhower, the arthritis in my hand hurts a lot. The ornate sterling silver desk piece (typewriter eraser) is monogrammed, "W.W." and was owned and used by President Woodrow Wilson…At one time, it had a small eraser at the top. The ivory colored brush is still in the bottom as it was when the President used it at his desk. Sometimes, he typed his own personal letters. When the Wilsons left the White House in 1921, the First Lady, Edith Galt Wilson, gave the sterling piece to my 'Mama,' Maggie Rogers, who was First Maid of the White House…This sterling silver desk piece was owned and used in the White House by President Wilson." Based on Parks's description, the eraser atop the handle seems to be a replacement, though of the same period. Wilson was extremely fond of his typewriter—he purchased a Hammond while president of Princeton University, which he referred to as his 'pen.' It was this typewriter—with the innovative ability to change fonts—that he took with him to the White House, where he went on to use a number of different Hammonds, his brand of choice. The legacy of Wilson's typewriter lived on into the 1960s, when President John F. Kennedy was presented with the typewriter that Wilson used to write the '14 Points' speech. This exceptional monogrammed presidential relic is of great historical interest as it is intimately associated with Wilson's work as president.