Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM]. President Lincoln's personal seal, during his Presidency, formerly owned by William H. Crook, one of his White House bodyguards. It consists of an engraved circular brass die, 20 mm. (7/8 in.) in diameter , with incised design of an American eagle in the center, head facing right, wings outspread, holding arrows and an olive branch in its talons, the background decorated with scattered tiny five-point stars, outer border with circular lettering reading: "SEAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES," attached to an elaborate turned ivory handle, together 96 mm. (4 3/4 in.) in height, the seal and handle with small remnants of red sealing wax . Housed in a specially-fitted protective display case: a recessed velvet-padded receptacle for the seal, below a hinged front panel drops away to reveal a small drawer (containing a certified impression of the seal on a small card signed by the Lincoln collector Justin Turner), the case covered externally and internally in dark red levant morocco gilt, inside the hinged lid is a gilt-lettered label: "Personal Seal of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States of America, 1861-1865," upper panel of lid with beveled top outlined in gilt with gilt-stamped copy of Lincoln's signature, inset brass catch and lock (key lacking), by The French Binders of New York, case exterior rubbed. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL SEAL, FROM HIS BODYGUARD, WILLIAM CROOK A most remarkable memento of the Lincoln White House, apparently one of two such seals known to have been engraved for Lincoln, probably by the same unknown maker. The other, formerly in the well-known collection of Oliver R. Barrett, was of very similar design, with identical lettering, but exhibiting many fewer five-point stars behind the eagle, and no stars at all in the area between the eagle's head and outspread wing. Barrett's example was also smaller, standing only 3 1/4 in. high, and its turned ivory handle had much less elaborate turnings and a larger stock (see Barrett's sale, Parke-Bernet, 19 February 1952, lot 284, illustrated with a full-page plate). This seal has a long chain of provenance which extends from its present owner back to William Randolph Hearst and ultimately to William Henry Crook (1839-1915), one of Lincoln's bodyguards during the final months of his Presidency (see Crook's letter under Provenance below). Crook began his duties on 4 January 1865: "Armed with revolvers, the guards worked in shifts...dressed in plain clothes and accompanied the President whenever he left the White House, walking beside him like 'any other...casual friend, office-seeker, petitioner, advisor.' The existence of the guards was little-known in Lincoln's day because the President, said Crook, 'did not want it known that it had been found necesssary to guard the life of the President of the United States from assassination'" (Mark E. Neely, Jr. The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia , p. 75). Initially, Crook was Lincoln's bodyguard from 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. "and accompanied the President each night on his customary trip to the War Department to get the latest news by telegraph from the front." Later, Crook was moved to the 12 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift. Crook's memoirs, Through Five Administrations (New York, 1910) contained the startling accusation that, had fellow guard John F. Parker been on duty, at the President's side, on the night of April 14, Booth's assassination attempt might have failed (Parker had left his seat, outside the Presidential box, in order to watch the performance of Our American Cousin .) Provenance : 1. Abraham Lincoln 2. General William H. Crook (see above). The lot is accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed ("Wm. H. Crook") to W.J. Marshall, The White House, Washington, D.C., 19 November 1925, 1 page, 8vo, on printed White House stationery, with envelope , presenting the seal: "Please accept with my compliments the accompanying seal used by Abraham Lincoln. The seal is in the same condition as it was