President Johnson’s personally-owned and -used wooden cigar box, measuring 10.25 x 7.25 x 2.25, constructed primarily of light wood with dark accents on the sides, engraved on the top in fine script, “President Johnson.” As would be expected, the wood is of superior, first-class quality. Includes a letter of provenance on a White House card from Toi Bachelder, a White House secretary and member of FDR’s inner circle. In part: “The wooden cigar box imprinted ‘President Johnson’ was owned and used by him…I met F.D.R. when I was 14 and began my White House service as a secretary in 1933. When I retired in 1967, President Johnson held a private reception for me in the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office.” In fine condition, with a few tiny dings and cracks that do not detract from use or display. Toi Bachelder first met Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1925 when, afflicted with polio, she became one of the first 25 test patients to be rehabilitated at FDR's newly established Warm Springs Foundation in Georgia. On her first night there she was a bridge partner with the future president, and the two became friends of long duration. When FDR assumed the presidency in 1933, Bachelder was invited to work as one of his major secretaries at the White House. She accepted the job and became one of the most trusted members of his inner circle. A truly extraordinary presidential piece. The Raleigh DeGeer Amyx Collection.
