A major auction of Abraham Lincoln artifacts held May 21, 2025, brought in nearly $8 million dollars. The largest amount for any single item was over $1.5 million (including auction fees) for a pair of blood-stained gloves that Lincoln wore the night of the assassination.
Hindman ran the auction for the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, whose predecessor organization had purchased the Taper Collection of Lincolniana. Approximately 10 percent of that collection was included in the auction designed to raise money to pay off the ongoing debt from the initial purchase many years ago.
In addition to the gloves, other items from the night of the assassination also exceeded their estimated pre-auction value. Lincoln’s handkerchief sold for $826,000, more than double its initial estimate. A monogrammed cuff button that had been on one of Lincoln’s sleeves when he was assassinated went for $445,000, while a ticket stub from that night’s performance of Our American Cousin garnered $381,200.
Other items included a partial sheet from Lincoln’s “sum book” with mathematical calculations and a poem, which sold for $521,200, and the first printing of Lincoln’s second inaugural address – estimated to be worth between $40,000 and $60,000 – sold for $165,000.
One intrigue in the sale was that an anonymous bidder known as “Paddle 1231” was by far the largest buyer, purchasing about $4 million worth of the $8 million total, including the gloves, handkerchief, and other high-ticket items. Some have speculated about whether that buyer could be Illinois Governor and First Lady JB and MK Pritzker, who have a history of purchasing Lincoln artifacts at auction and have donated them to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in the past. Neither the governor’s office nor the Lincoln Presidential Foundation would comment on the matter, which is pure speculation at this point.
Controversy surrounded some of the items in the collection, most notably the provenance of the stovepipe hat that had been on display in the Museum. Considerable upheaval in the Museum and Library staff has occurred in recent years and the Museum severed ties with the predecessor foundation, leading to its reorganization into the current Lincoln Presidential Foundation.
The remaining 90 percent of the Taper Collection continues to be held by the Foundation while the old debt is retired and new locations for display are investigated. While no one seems to be happy that some items were auctioned off, there are hopes that many of them will be donated or loaned to an appropriate museum for public display. Perhaps the mysterious “Paddle 1231” will ensure that happens?
You can see all the items and their sale prices at the Freeman/Hindman’s site here.
[Photo credit: From Freeman/Hindman’s auction site]
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David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.
His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
