ST. GEORGE (NEWS CENTER Maine) — Bidders with deep pockets may be headed to the midcoast town of St. George on Thursday, as a rare item will be up for auction. LT Auctions will be selling a photo of Abraham Lincoln — with his autograph.
Auctioneer and owner Larry Trueman said he spotted the small, framed photo of Lincoln when he was gathering items from a house in Friendship for an estate sale. Trueman told NEWS CENTER Maine it wasn’t until he got home and took it out of the frame that he saw the signature.
The photo is a type of calling card that was popular at the time of the Civil War, called a "Carte de Visite," now referred to in the auction business as a CdV.
Experts at the Lincoln Library and Museum in Illinois said the cards were used by people in society, and that CdV cards with Lincoln’s photo were even sold commercially.
Trueman said he had seen such cards before, but never one with the 16th president’s autograph.
"Oh, I got excited," Trueman said Wednesday as he showed the card to NEWS CENTER Maine. "The hair stands up on the back of your neck with these kind of deals, because Lincoln actually signed it."
That’s his signature. He held this in his hand.
PHOTOS: Abraham Lincoln signed calling card
Trueman said the autographed card has generated a lot of interest in the auction. He said he had not had time to take it to a Lincoln expert to have the signature authenticated, but is confident it is genuine.
"You know why? All the phone calls, all the phone calls we got," Trueman said.
"I looked at it with a [jeweler’s] loupe, and I know what ink looks like when it bleeds onto cardboards, so I said, 'holy cats, this is not a fake.'"
NEWS CENTER Maine sent photos of the card to the Lincoln Library, which referred us to the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, an 85-year-old business that specializes in Lincoln books and artifacts.
Owner Daniel Weinberg said he couldn’t give a positive ID without seeing the card in person, but based on the photos said the card and signature "seem authentic."
As for the value of the card, it may be hard to predict. Weinberg said one recent sale of a similarly autographed card was in the $70,000 range. Trueman said he knew of one that went for $38,000 and is hoping bidders will pay a good price for the rarity.
As to the history of the card itself, Trueman has a lot of questions. Handwritten on the back, above the logo from photographer Matthew Brady’s studio, is a notation in French: "Lincoln, President Etats Unis," and the date 1864. Trueman theorized the card was signed for a French diplomat or other official or high-level visitor. Weinberg, at the Lincoln Book Shop, suggested the same thing.
How it got to the home in Friendship is a mystery. Trueman said the family members did not know the photo was autographed and knew nothing of its background. He said the owner, who had passed away, worked at one time for the old United Press International and may have acquired the Lincoln photo somewhere in his travels.
The auction will be Thursday at LT Auction in St. George.