If your greatest accomplishment to date is cornering a bunny in the grotto, maybe it’s time to take a page from Abe’s book… literally. While you may never inspire a country to lay down arms during a civil war,  you can own one of the rarest pieces of Americana ever to hit Christie’s auction block.  For the first time,  Abraham Lincoln’s original handwritten 1864 Victory speech has come up for auction and is one of the few Lincoln speech manuscripts not in a permanent institution.  Just think of the great things you could accomplish with the inspiration of Lincoln’s handwriting on your office wall. Who needs genius when you’ve bought it, framed it, and hung it up for display?

On February 12, the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, Christie’s auctioned the four page acceptance speech that Lincoln held in his hands on the grounds of the White House as he addressed his supporters the night he reclaimed office.  At $3,442,500 it set a new auction record for a Lincoln manuscript, a presidential manuscript and any American historical document.

While we don’t think the IRS will consider this a donation, proceeds from the sale will help fund improvement and operating expenses for the Southworth Library Association in New York.  Mi4M recommends that you do the honorable thing and send it to some of those obtuse Republican speech writers.  Or better yet, just keep it; we don’t need them back in office.

This post is tagged Abraham Lincoln, Art, Auction, Christie's, Collectible, luxury, Playboy Mansion, Rare