Partial bank check, approximately 3.25 x 2.25, dated in Lincoln’s hand “August 5, [185]9,” and signed “A. Lincoln.” Accompanied by a one-page TLS from Robert Lincoln, dated October 7, 1905, presenting the item to a collector and offering his opinion on an evidently spurious photo of his father. In part: “As promised you yesterday I enclose a signature of my father on a cancelled cheque, which is as good a signature as I could find anywhere. I have no other source except for a few such cheques. I had no difficulty in finding a copy of the Daily News of the fifth, containing the picture you mentioned. It is undoubtably a fake photograph, as you will see upon a close examination, having been made with a photograph of my father’s house at Springfield as a basis. You will see that the figures do not correspond to the landscape at all. In the next place, my father did not at that time ride on horseback. He had done so in traveling the circuit years before, but had entirely quit doing so.” In fine condition, with a light, difficult-to-detect cancellation cut through signature and faint toning along right edge. Lincoln items with direct, ironclad documentation from a family member are extremely unusual. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
