Lincoln Collection Sells for More Than $800,000

Lincoln letter (www.ha.com)

Last Saturday, Heritage Auctions in Dallas sold the Dow Collection of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln memorabilia for $803,889, twice what it had been expected. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the president's assassination (April 15, 1865), and the collection included one-of-a-kind memorabilia tied to Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth.

The collection included photographs, paintings and even a lock of Lincoln's hair removed after he was shot. Of particular interest to correspondence fans may be the sale of Lincoln-related letters, including:

* An 1864 letter signed by Lincoln — authorizing an P.O.W. swap involving Confederate General Robert E. Lee's son from a Union prisoner of war camp — which sold for $27,500.

* A letter signed by Mary Todd Lincoln, on her personal black-bordered mourning stationary, sold for $10,625.

* An 1861 letter written by Booth to a friend boasting about his career and value as an actor, which sold for $30,000.