President Roosevelt’s personally-owned and -used pewter letter opener, measuring 5.5″ long, featuring his initials engraved in the center, “F. D. R.,” below a detailed inset presidential seal emblem. The high-quality opener was made at Val-Kill Industries, the socially conscious business founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, and gently slopes from the nicely weighted round head into a sharp point, exhibiting significant use from light chips and dings to the tip. Includes a letter of provenance on White House letterhead from the wife of Arthur S. Prettyman, who had served as Roosevelt’s valet from 1939 until his death in 1945, and continued to work for President Truman, as his valet, until he left office, in 1953. In part: “It gives me pleasure to present to you this letter opener which was used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The President gave it to my husband, Arthur S. Prettyman, sometime during World War II…This pewter piece was forged at Val-Kill near the President's Hyde Park home. Val-Kill was started and managed by the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt along with two women friends…With the small factory, they wanted to provide work during the Great Depression for the local under-privileged and unemployed…This was a personal possession of FDR's who gave it to my husband." An important relic, often used by FDR, one of the greatest presidents in American history.
