Son of President Abraham Lincoln (1843-1926) who served as secretary of war in the Garfield and Arthur administrations. Historic pair of brass bi-focal glasses "identified and attributed to Robert Todd Lincoln by Mr. James Hickey, retired Lincoln Curator of the Illinois State Historical Society," per an accompanying copy of an affidavit by David Rowland, noting that they were received from Robert Todd Lincoln's wife, Mary Harlan Lincoln, on or before February 26, 1894, and remained in his family's possession until 1985. Complete with a dark leather case with gilt-stamped retailer's label, "Charles Waldin, Jeweler and Optician, 305 Jefferson St., Burlington, Iowa." The optician's location is noteworthy, as Mount Pleasant, Iowa—hometown of Mary Harlan Lincoln—is a mere 30 miles west of Burlington. Robert Todd Lincoln and his family would spend summers in Mount Pleasant with Mary's family, with Robert making occasional train trips back to Chicago for business. These simple, wire-framed brass bifocal glasses were subsequently part of the collection of Dr. John K. Lattimer, a prolific collector and researcher of the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations.
The accompanying affidavit traces the lineage of the glasses back to Rowland's great-great-grandfather, Joseph Leisenring, a photographer of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, who was a neighbor and friend of the Harlan family. Leisenring took several of the known, youthful photographs of the Lincolns' children, Mamie and Jack. Also part of the Leisenring collection, and also owned by Dr. Lattimer and described in the affidavit, were a pair of President Abraham Lincoln's glasses, which realized $179,250 in the sale of Lattimer's collection of Lincolniana.
Provenance: The John Lattimer Collection of Lincolniana, Heritage Auctions, November 20, 2008. Includes copies of the original auction description and introductory letters by Tom Slater and Evan Lattimer, discussing the history of Lattimer's comprehensive collection.
