Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Why Don't I Ever Find Stuff Like This at Garage Sales?

Parking Lot Sale Unearths Lost Lincoln Letter - October 4, 2006 - The New York Sun: "BIRMINGHAM, England — An amateur historian believes he has unearthed a letter written by the President Lincoln — after buying it for $1.89 at a parking lot sale.

Kenneth Anderson-Jones, 75, found the dusty and dirt-encrusted framed document in a pile of bric-a-brac at the sale near his home in Stratford-upon-Avon.

When he got it home, he cleaned it up to find it was a letter written in 1856 by Lincoln giving Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant total command of the American army, a move that led to victory in the American Civil War.

Yesterday, his nephew took the letter to Sotheby's to have its authenticity checked. The American Library of Congress, which keeps official documents, said it did not hold a copy of the letter and was keen to examine Mr. Anderson-Jones's find."

3 comments:

Cap'n Bob said...

You find these things in used book stores, as I recall.
Anyway, the letter is a fake. Lincoln wasn't president in 1856, Grant wasn't a general, and there was no Civil War yet.

Unknown said...

The letter was round in the U.K. Those guys don't know from the dates of the Civil War.

Anonymous said...

What Cap'n Bob said. Grant was off west somewhere and Lincoln hadn't even debated Douglas yet in 1856, let alone run for President.