Earning $656,250 was the Applegate Flag which was draped over Abraham Lincoln’s coffin in 1865 during the transportation of his body from Washington, DC, to Springfield, Ill. The flag had provenance to Senator Edwin D. Morgan and the family of Lewis Applegate ($800,000-$1,200,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
NEW YORK CITY — On November 22, Guernsey’s conducted its American History Auction after a two-day exhibition at Arader Galleries on Madison Avenue. The “somewhat unprecedented” auction, according to the firm’s pre-sale press release, offered just 61 lots of museum-quality objects from the firm’s collection of important artifacts from American history. “Though this was a small sale, it totaled a little over $1 million,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s, in a phone call post-auction.
Leading the sale was the 37-star United States Applegate Flag, which draped Abraham Lincoln’s coffin in 1865, during the transport of his body about his funeral train from Washington, DC, to Springfield, Ill. The 28-by-37-inch flag was constructed from 15 individual pieces of wool bunting as well as 37 hand-sewn, five-point, single appliqué cotton sheeting stars. It contained a maker’s mark, that read “Annin & Co., 99 & 101 Fulton St. N.Y.,” as well as former owner Lewis Applegate’s signature. The somber flag had provenance to former Senator Edwin D. Morgan, one of Lincoln’s six pallbearers, then by descent through Applegate’s family for more than 150 years.
“The star of the auction,” said Ettinger of the flag. “It certainly had a very interesting backstory, which we tried to make known. It came from a small museum based in Jacksonville, Fla., the Museum of Southern History, which was forced to close its doors because it was discovered that there were contaminants in the soil on which the building was built dating back to the early part of the Twentieth Century, when that building was a petroleum depot.”
This antique locket containing a lock of George Washington’s hair was deaccessioned from the Lincoln Train Museum in Gettysburg, Penn., and was accompanied by a portrait of the president by an unknown artist. It brushed past its $30/40,000 estimate to achieve $77,500.
The flag was won for $656,250 by Tilman Fertitta, owner, CEO and chairman of Landry’s, the owner of the Houston Rockets and the Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos. Fertitta recently acquired Keens Steakhouse — “one of the oldest, if not the oldest steakhouse in New York,” reported Ettinger — and has plans to display the flag in the restaurant.
A locket containing a lock of George Washington’s hair was the second highest selling lot of the sale, almost doubling its high estimate to achieve $77,500. The glass-covered antique locket had provenance to Sarah Howell, the daughter of Richard Howell, who was the third governor of New Jersey. According to the auction catalog, he and his wife, Keziah, “were close friends of George and Martha Washington.” The locket descended in the Howell family for generations. Additional provenance included a private collection and the Lincoln Train Museum in Gettysburg, Penn. The lot was sold as a framed presentation including the antique locket, an image of General Washington and a “G. Washington” signature, the origins of which were unknown.
This 1877 plaster maquette of the “Concord Minute Man” statue by Daniel Chester French (American, 1850-1931) was used as a figurehead for the USS Concord and was inscribed “DC French Sc / The Concord Minute Man of 1775” on its base. It shot down a $62,500 finish ($300/400,000).
Two plaster maquettes by Daniel Chester French earned the third highest prices of the sale, both sculpting a $62,500 finish. The first, of the original “Concord Minute Man” statue from the Minute Man Memorial in Concord, Mass., was requested by the US Navy to be used as a figurehead for the USS Concord, according to catalog notes. “The farmer-turned-Revolutionary War soldier is a figure that has often been used to represent our country,” said Ettinger on the maquette’s significance. “During the two World Wars, the Minute Man image was used for war bonds, to raise funds for the war effort.”
The second maquette was similar to French’s full-sized seated Abraham Lincoln located inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. “He [French] started with two or three very small models,” explained Ettinger. “He was experimenting with the leg and arm position that Lincoln would be in, and this was one of those studies, which evolved into the 19-foot-tall marble sculpture that is so famous today.”
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 212-794-2280 or www.guernseys.com.
