George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the Louisiana Purchase Lead Presidents Sale

RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Presidents sale ontinues the company’s 50th anniversary year with a selection of presidential manuscripts and historic documents.

Ending February 11, highlights include a scarce 1768 lottery ticket for the Mountain Road Lottery, neatly signed by George Washington that entitled the bearer to any prize drawn against its number. Washington and others conceived the lottery to fund construction of a road through the Allegheny Mountains and a resort at what is now Hot Springs, Virginia. Although 6,000 tickets were originally slated for sale, the lottery failed due to competition, and all lotteries were subsequently banned by King George III in 1769. Only about 25 examples are known to exist.

Also going under the hammer is a document signed by Abraham Lincoln on January 22, 1864, appointing Michael Steck of Pennsylvania, a physician and longtime Indian Agent, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of New Mexico. Dated during the final full year of Lincoln’s presidency, the document reflects federal governance during the Civil War and westward expansion.


Additionally, there is a monumental manuscript documenting the delivery of France’s ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty. Signed in Paris on May 23, 1803 by James Monroe, Robert R. Livingston, and French minister François Barbé-Marbois, the document records receipt of the fully executed treaty - approved by Napoleon Bonaparte - and orders that it be sent to the President of the United States “without delay.”

It is accompanied by a follow-up letter from Barbé-Marbois requesting the temporary return of the treaty so additional official copies could be made, a request that delayed transmission and contributed to a tense ratification timeline in Washington.