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In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order that freedslaves in the non-Union states and he signed 48 copies. Theoriginal version of the Emancipation Proclamation is in theNational Archives, but several copies are privately owned. One ofthose will be put up for sale at the Robert Siegel AuctionGalleries on June 26 and is expected to fetch between $1.8 millionand $2.5 million. Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with Seth Kaller, the historian who authenticated andappraised the document and has agreed to sell it for the owner.Kaller explained the origins of the document, which U.S. presidentsbring in the most money at auction, and why historical papers areso much cheaper than works of art. Wait, so Lincoln signed 48 copies of the Emancipation Proclamation?Why d he bother to do that? One of the ways that the Northern public supported the troopsduring the Civil War was through an organization called theSanitary Commission. They helped makes soldiers conditions in thecamps better by improving administering medicine, providing itemsfor personal comfort, and supplying pens and paper so they couldwrite home. Think of it as something similar to the Red Cross andUSO put together. To raise money for all of this, the Sanitary Commission held whatwere called Sanitary Fairs. They sold artwork, autographs anythingof value that people donated to them. Lincoln was very popular (inthe North, at least), so some abolitionists asked him to sign anumber of copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, which they soldfor $10 a piece. There were 48 originally but only 26 remain now. Who has them? Eighteen are in museums or libraries. One of those is on loan rightnow to the White House. Eight are in private hands. But several ofthose are slated to go to museums in the coming years. I sold threeof them in the $1 million-plus range a few years ago. The mostinteresting one has been the one that went for $3.77 million at Sotheby s ( BID ) in 2010. It was the same as the others but it had the added bonusthat in 1964 or 65, when Bobby Kennedy was involved in the civilrights movement, he bought the copy. Are these so expensive because Lincoln actually signed them? No, the signature is only a small part of the value. There aremilitary documents that Lincoln signed that go for much less money.I have a particularly nice one of him approving the promotion of anofficer that s worth about $11,000. This isn t just a Lincolnsignature, it s an 1863 copy of the Emancipation Proclamation acopy, yes, but it s a historical document and part of the valueis related to its importance. It changed the world. There s aspiritual value to it. It s the closest we can get to touching thereal thing, and it s one that met with Lincoln s hand. What U.S. president brings in the most money when his documents goup for auction? Lincoln historically has the highest prices. Washington will oncein a while come up to that. I think this month there s aWashington document that might break the record. It sWashington s personal signed copy of the Constitution and Bill ofRights and is estimated to be worth between $2 million and $3million, but it will probably go for more. For more modern presidents, Kennedy s signature is of coursehighly desirable. So is FDR s. On things related to the atom bomb,Harry Truman s signature is a big deal. And then there s WilliamHenry Harrison. Signed documents from before he was president runonly $500, but we just paid $85,000 for a standard shippingdocument he signed while president. The price is so high cause hewas only in office for a month [before he died]. The scarcity iswhat makes it valuable. These documents are pricey, but their price tags are much lowerthan what some pieces of art go for. One of Edvard Munch s The Scream just went for $120 million. Is there a reason why artwork is morevaluable than historical artifacts? Not one that makes sense to me! You need more of an intellectualconnection to historical documents, and art is easier in thatsense. But also part of it is just the market. When the price forsomething is $10 million or more, the size of the number attractssome people. Some documents are below the radar of many big-timeart collectors who really put importance on a piece based on itsprice. Yes, Lincoln did sign 48 of these proclamations, butthey re limited editions of a document that saved America. Whatshould that be worth? We can t price them above what the marketsays, even though right now there have been baseballs that havesold for more. Do you think historical documents will ever reach the level of artand memorabilia? Has the asking price been rising? The average market price hasn t been rising much but the top endis. And actually, the lower-tier items priced below $1,000 havefallen. It s an EBay ( EBAY ) effect; things aren t nearly as scarce as people thought. Thereare really nice things that people can collect that are even in the$100 range. Yes, this Emancipation Proclamation is probably goingto go for around $2.5 million that s my guess. But for $250 youcan buy a copy of the document that was printed in a newspaper backin 1863. That s just as historical. It s just not signed byLincoln. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Paper Linear Polarized 3D Glasses , 3D Fireworks Glasses Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Active Shutter 3D TV Glasses.
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