Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, Abraham]. A group of five hand-carved and hand-painted toy soldiers, OWNED BY "TAD" LINCOLN, according to Lincoln family tradition, probably carved by Joseph Stuntz of the A. Stuntz Toy and candy shop at 1207 New York Avenue, Washington, D.C.
LINCOLN, Abraham]. A group of five hand-carved and hand-painted toy soldiers, OWNED BY "TAD" LINCOLN, according to Lincoln family tradition, probably carved by Joseph Stuntz of the A. Stuntz Toy and candy shop at 1207 New York Avenue, Washington, D.C. Five pieces, each approximately 1¼ in height, including base. "TAD" LINCOLN'S TOY SOLDIERS Five standing soldiers in Union blue uniforms, all with carefully painted faces. Two soldiers are in Navy uniforms with white pants and caps, rifles slung on their shoulders, one is in full infantry uniform, also with rifle, one is a drummer (drumsticks no longer present) and one is raising a tiny trumpet to his lips. All have tiny pistols in holsters at their side. Each is carved with a circular base, painted green. The hand-painting is exquisitely detailed: each figure has a moustache and a touch of pink on his cheeks, while trousers and tunics have neat white or blue piping and tunic buttons in yellow; rifles are painted in reddish-brown, and the hats are carefully encircled with yellow gold braid. President Lincoln was a customer of the tiny shop of A. Stuntz, located only four blocks from the White House, established in 1847 by Joseph and Appolonia Stuntz. It acquired a reputation for its large counter of penny merchandize and for its exquisitely carved and decorated toy soldiers. "Stuntz, who had been a soldier under Napoleon, would carve the wooden soldiers himself while resting his disabled leg on a stool. The toy soldiers were a special favorite of Tad" (John Lockwood "Toy store brightens Lincoln's dark days," in The Washingon Times , 20 December, 2003). After Joseph Stuntz's death, his widow ran the shop until her death in 1901. These five diminuative toys constitutes a poignant memento of Mary's and Abraham's affectionate relationship with Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, the youngest of their three sons. Tad was born in 1853 in Springfield and named after Lincoln's father. Perhaps due to a cleft palate, he suffered from a slight speech impediment, "but this only endeared him all the more to Lincoln." Tad was "an impulsive, uninhibited child whom Mary regarded as 'her little sunshine'" (Stephen B. Oates, With Malice Towards None, p.104), while to others he was the over-indulged tyrant of the White House. He invaded cabinet meetings and demanded attention, insisting on a Union soldier's outfit (in which he was photographed), a navy sword, maps of the battlefields, a toy pistol and other spur-of-the-moment favors. Especially after the death of his older brother, Willie, in 1862, he was even more indulged and coddled by the President and First Lady. Stuntz's tiny shop would have been the source of many gifts, like this set of miniature soldiers--in remarkably good condition--passed down in the Lincoln family. (5)