Abraham Lincoln Astral Lamps to Headline Auction

Important items pertaining to Abraham Lincoln headline a sale at Cohasco's Auctions. This event is timely because they are being offered concurrent with the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, in February 1809. One of the expected star lots is a set of three bronze lamps by which Lincoln “spent many hours reading, talking, thinking, laughing, and even dancing.” In 1842, they illuminated his wedding to Mary Todd (estimate $40,000-$70,000).

Also to be sold will be the original manuscript order to prepare for Lincoln’s interment, in Springfield, Ill., after the slain president’s funeral train had traveled across the country. The order, issued by Springfield mayor George Willis, is dated April 26, 1865, and directs the City Sexton to await the arrival of Lincoln’s body, which was buried in Springfield on May 4 of that fateful year (estimate $7,500-$10,000). Another lot is a very rare captioned photo of Lincoln, prepared in 1865 by Charles Magnus, an outstanding printer of the Civil War period. The photo, previously unseen, measures 5 inches by 7 inches, and shows an introspective Lincoln (estimate $175-$250).

From The Marilyn Encyclopedia: The 16th president of the United States was a hero to Marilyn ever since she wrote an essay on him in junior high school. Soon after meeting Arthur Miller in 1950, Marilyn wrote a letter in which she confessed, "Most people can admire their fathers, but I never had one. I need someone to admire." Miller wrote back, "if you want someone to admire, why not Abraham Lincoln?" Marilyn went out and bought a large framed portrait and a biography written by Carol Sandburg, with whom she later became friends.

She reputedly also kept a copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for inspiration. On screen in Bus Stop (1956), Don Murray, playing country boy Bo Decker, tries to get Marilyn to become "attracted to his mind" by reciting her the Gettysburg address. For years Marilyn gave her framed photo of Lincoln pride of place in her homes at Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills, at the Waldorf-Astoria suite in New york, and later in a smaller version on her nightstand at the East Fifty-Seventh Street apartment she shared with Arthur Miller.

More than one biographer has asserted that until the relationships soured, Marilyn identified Arthur with Lincoln. She saw both of them as honorable men, committed to their principles, erudite, and cultured.

In 1955, accompanied by photographer Eve Arnold, Marilyn was invited to officially open a Lincoln museum in the town of Belment, Illinois.

"My father is Abraham Lincoln - I mean I think of Lincoln as my father. He was wise and kind and good." -Marilyn Monroe

http://www.cohascodpc.com/