Vintage fountain pen signatures of the leaders of the 'Big Three' Allied countries during World War II—Franklin Roosevelt ("Franklin D. Roosevelt"), Winston Churchill ("For Nicholas, Winston S. Churchill"), and Joseph Stalin ("J. Stalin")—on an off-white 4 x 2 card gilt-embossed with a presidential eagle. In very fine condition. Encapsulated in a PSA/DNA authentication holder.
Provenance: removed from a book belonging to Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon, sold at Christies, London, (2 Dec. 2003, lot 86; and 3 Dec. 2010, lot 45). Those lot descriptions observed that the proximity of this card to a similar card with the signature of the Turkish statesman Ismet Inonu suggests that it was signed at the Tehran Conference of 28 November–1 December 1943; the Second Cairo conference, which Inonu, (but not Stalin) also attended, followed a few days later. Further, a similar card held by the Library of Congress, originating from the papers of W. Averell Harriman, is described as a souvenir of the Tehran Conference.
The historic Tehran Conference was the first of the World War II conferences of the 'Big Three' Allied leaders, preceding the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945. The main outcome of the meeting was the Western Allies' commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany, laying the groundwork for 'Operation Overlord'—the invasion of Normandy—in 1944. It also marked the beginning of discussions on the division of Europe and the post-war settlement, foreshadowing the tensions of the emerging Cold War. The conference elevated the status of the Soviet Union as a global power and affirmed the principles of democracy, self-determination, and human rights as central to the Allied vision for the post-war world. In essence, the Tehran Conference solidified the Allied commitment to defeating Nazi Germany and laid the foundation for the geopolitical landscape of the 20th century.
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