Unique pair of artistically fashioned locks of Abraham Lincoln’s hair originating from a lock clipped by Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, who attended to the president on the night of his assassination. Most impressive is an ornately decorated oval locket, 2 x 1.5, which opens to reveal a superb rendering of the log cabin in Kentucky where Lincoln was born, accomplished using strands of his hair and set against a mother-of-pearl background. A handwritten notation displayed on the opposing side describes the piece, in full: “Sketch of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace, Harding, Ky, Feb. 12 1[80]9, Made from a lock of Lincoln’s hair secured by Dr. Sabin Taft on the night of the assassination, April 14, 1865, Washington.” A smaller brooch, 1 x .5, is decorated with jewels around the perimeter and displays a matching depiction of the cabin, also made using strands of this lock. A simple description is engraved on the reverse, in full: “Lincoln. Apl. 14. 1865.” In overall fine condition.
Dr. Taft was a member of the audience watching Our American Cousin on the night of April 13, 1865, and was one of three doctors to attend to the president at the theatre after he was shot. Taft remained with Lincoln until his death the next day at the Petersen House and participated in the post-mortem examination, during which time he obtained a lock of the president’s hair. These two wonderful presentations of this hair—fine pieces of folk art in their own right—were acquired directly from a Connecticut family descending from Abraham Pierson, a founder of Yale. The lock may have come into the family’s possession via Julia Taft Bayne, the half-sister of Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, who married a congregational minister in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1869; incidentally, Julia was a playmate of Willie and Tad Lincoln during the first two years of Lincoln’s tenure in the White House, later writing a memoir on the subject. An amazing set of truly extraordinary historical relics.
