Potter & Potter Auctions – Historic Eric C. Caren Collection Auction
April 18, 2024
5001 West Belmont Avenue Chicago, IL 60641
www.potterauctions.com

CHICAGO — Potter & Potter Auctions will present a sale on April 18, starting at 10 am. This ninth sale from Eric Caren’s archives offers a bird’s-eye view of history from a printed, manuscript and photographic perspective. This event will be held live at Potter & Potter’s gallery, as well as live streamed on the company’s website. Phone and absentee bids are welcome.

The top Washington-related lot in this event is George Washington’s commission as commander in chief ($150/250,000). This document is written by and signed in the hand of Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress. Dated June 19, 1775, it appointed George Washington as general and commander in chief of the army of the United Colonies. This one-page, oblong folio on sheepskin vellum has provenance tracing it to General Washington’s acquaintance Dr George Whitfield Avery (1835-1983) who hung it in his office for many years, and to Richard M. Ahlstrom, who purchased the document in 1969, at an antiques show in Ohio.

This previously unrecorded, and fully authenticated original of Washington’s commission reads in part: “To George Washington Esquire. We reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, conduct and fidelity Do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be general and commander in chief of the army of the United Colonies and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their service and join the said army for the defence of American Liberty and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof…” Thomson signed the document as secretary and on behalf of “John Hancock, President.”
Eric C. Caren, the collection consignor, noted, “I have owned literally millions of historical documents in my six decades of collecting, and this is, by far, the most important piece of all of them!

Other premier Washington lots in this sale include a rare framed and glazed broadside from January 6, 1800, mourning the death of George Washington and detailing the city of Boston’s memorial observances ($2/3,000); a one-page document dated May 13, 1796, and signed by Washington appointing the first surveyor general ($15/25,000); the April 9, 1789 Massachusetts Spy; or the Worcester Gazette’s announcement of George Washington elected as the first US president ($800-$1,200); and the Gazette of the United States from June 19, 1790, featuring the first address by a Jewish community to Washington after the election by Levi Sheftal (president of the Hebrew Congregation of Savannah at the time) is estimated at $4/6,000.
Potter & Potter Auctions is at 5001 West Belmont Avenue. For information, 773-472-1442 or www.potterauctions.com.

HOW HISTORY UNFOLDS ON PAPER
CHOICE SELECTIONS FROM THE ERIC C. CAREN COLLECTION
PART IX | APRIL 18, 2024
Lot 46: George Washington’s appointment as General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, signed by Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the Continental Congress. Est. $150,000/250,000
Lot 47: Manuscript document signed by George Washington as first President of the United States. Est. $15,000/25,000
Lot 378: Newly Discovered First Newspaper Notice of the Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Est. $2,000/4,000
Lot 483: U.S. Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and First Oak Leaf Cluster Award for “Buzz” Aldrin. Est. $1,000/2,000
Lot 419: Babe Ruth Gets Perhaps His First Headline. Est. $400/600
Lot 263: Earliest known ad for Levi’s Jeans. Est. $800/1,200
Lot 223: Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light. Est. $2,000/3,000
Lot 37: Sunday Morning Chronicle. Reinauguration of President Lincoln. Est. $4,000/8,000
Lot 438: Computer Pioneer John Eckert’s annotated speech heralding the coming of high-speed computers. Est. $1,500/2,500
5001 West Belmont Avenue Chicago, IL 60641
773-472-1442
www.potterauctions.com
info@potterauctions.com