Sale 2486, Part I - The Harold Holzer Collection of Lincolniana, September 27, 2018

Nevertheless, along the way, I unearthed treasures I feel honored to have held close, including an exceptionally rare copy of the very first print of Lincoln— one of the images published to shower onto the floor of the convention hall in Chicago once he’d won the Republican presidential nomination in May 1860. I also acquired the signed document that made Illinois newspaperman William O. Stoddard a White House secretary, plus the oil painting “Stod’s” childhood friend Francis B. Carpenter made of him while the artist was in residence at the executive mansion in 1864 to work on his famous painting of Lincoln and his Cabinet. I found a rare, signed Lincoln bust by sculptor Sarah Fisher Ames, who posed the president just before the Gettysburg Address, and a long-lost life painting of then beardless presidential nominee Lincoln, executed in Springfield. Though I have recorded the stories behind many of these works, one mystery persists unsolved. What was there—what is there—that makes that rugged face such an enduring staple of American décor and such a powerful symbol of American possibility? Part of the appeal may be locked into his mysterious expression, half smiling, half-frowning, always seeming to gaze toward a faraway place. Perhaps our interest remains piqued, too, by Lincoln’s own endearing humility. He called himself “the homeliest man in the state of Illinois” and a “very indifferent judge” of his own portraits. Yet he sat for more painters, sculptors, and photographers than his contemporaries. And in an era long before images became instantaneous and ubiquitous, Americans kept examples in honored places in their most treasured settings, testifying to their political beliefs, patriotic loyalty, and reverence for the man who died that the nation might live. Lincoln’s images remind us that America once boasted—and cherished— heroes. I hope this collection demonstrates one way the nation remembered the greatest American hero of them all: visually. I’m proud indeed that I began acquiring Lincoln pieces nearly half a century ago, built the collection over the decades, and supplemented the acquisitions with research and writing. Most of all, I hope the pieces we’ve treasured bring as much joy to their new owners as they have to my wife and me. Lincoln’s images remind us that America once boasted—and cherished— heroes. “ “