The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-10-13
AUTOGRAPHS OF PRESIDENTS.
M. NkINLEYS HAS DOUBLED
IN VALUE SINCE HIS DEATH.
lAncein's and w~ashinGton's Autographs
the Most Valuable -Tayior's and John
sens the nsr~st-Netabie Collections
ef Autographs In TIL Country.

" N"'"srsms m tus souh'f,'
One rsult OF the death Of President
MCKINLEY was n sudden jump In the price
OF hs autograph. Tho principal auto
graph dealer Ia New York SAYS that In the
past thrcr weeks he has been receiving
a rush Of oricrS for Mckinley letters and
rignsture-. He has sold every one he hsd
In his stock. and has a number Of orders
ahead waiting to ie filled.
This doe~ not mean that tho late Prerl-
dents rignatur' has jumIeh To any ph"-
nomenal value. II has "a little more thHn
doubled In price. however. An ordinary
letter. written throughout In Mr.. Mckinley'S
hand, would hav" brought about s. a few
weeks ago. To-day the dealer would ask
s. for II. A signcl document which would
have cold in the Presidents lifetime for
81 would bring 8? 81 now An autograph
lcttnr containing interesting or import
ant references would bring more Ia q.
President kou~svclt's signature has also
more than doublrd Ia value. Documents
signed by him sold AZ 81 cents apieoe and
werc not In great demand heforeth. Buffalo
trsgeiy. Full autograph letters could bc
had for 81. They are now worth 81 and
s25O respectively They are not rare.
W. ANEh'A''N ~
uaren,ly does rot caro- To shin" c~hirograph-
icaliy. His signature u s,rong. but evil
IDENTIFY done Ia n rush. tn" Theodore
t-n't - had. but the Roosevelt after
starting In pretty dcc,ntiy, finishes In an
ilegiblc. hirroRlyphic welt
1T h. "a cold bloOd,d way Ia put u. said
Walter Il BENJAMIN. the autograph expert.
but ASSASSINATION h. advertising. and II
increas.= the value Of a mans autograph
just AZ anything which advertiSss him h
bound 20 do. Assassination. Of cour-,, not
only advertlSe@ a mans autograph. but
II stops the production. and that increass'S
the value ~ tho-' already In existence.
There j. an unfailing demand for Prcsl-
dents, ~ their signatures are called. People
buy them In ='ts and, IA addition 20 that, |
hayr ~cors- of separate letters. Every auto
grnph collector seems 90 want a complete
s.t 81 the Pr.-id-nts. lincoln's autograph
l. most Ia demand. Iinculn's aud Wash
iugton'E They bring the highest prizes,
too. although they ar not N" rares'
The rar'-t IT the Presidents are Zachary
Tavlnr and Andrew johnson Johnson
couldn't spell and naturally that mad" him
"a little DIV Of committing himself on paIsr
Besides that. ~" had l-s'n crippled Ia his
arm, which mad" II difficult for him 10
write any way M consequence was that
he turned his currp~pOudsUC over Ia 500
rrtarie- much more completely than was
common IN thu-' dav-. A complete auto
graphic letter by him therefore l. worth
about $40. Will" fpr n printed document
l-aring hts signature s. l. a low pficc
Zachary Taylor wasn't given 20 writing
%lc't"rs either lbs had a plantation and
herr Is a letter written tn hl- manager
II j. IN a fine lold hand and while II i-n't
Historically interesting IN its contents, y
l. worth tSO A hotter a. long a. II II II
treated 81 important matters would L.
worth murc Letters ~ John Adams
hand arr among 'h" rarcr ones They
have gon" up lately and arr worth now
from $50 tn s25.
-Of course -pmn - Wa-hingtun's letters
arr the most vahuahl" One which related
To Benedict Arnold Wu- sold for sl.0D
and there arr othcrs In existence which
would hring a. much. An ordinary letter
Ia his writing - worth from $50 UP and
go H. paid for merely "A signed document
Taylor and johnson ara the rnre-t Of
the Presidents and Buchanan and MonrOe
arr the M Either they had a
mania for "pi-tolary communication or
their correspondents and the descendants II
the latter happened Ia hav" AN in
s'inci for preserving letters. ~ any rate
an ordinary letter hy ia" promulgator Of
the Monroe DuCtriue IL worth only - to-
day, while his signature brings only 81
OF cuur~e that - morn than l. paid for som"
of the less common Presidents hut owing
To- IN" greater antiquity 81 IN" Mnnrue let
tcrs and his groatcr importance historically
his autograph would H. worth "A gcat deal
morc II Il wcrn not ~ plentiful.
a Polk letter, for INSTANCE. l. also worth
-, hui u - rar"r than the Nuuro+s. Other
wis IL would be- worth much le~ than they
arr. Tyler h not a rare President His
lottars bring only g. 30. while $50 will
buy a Martin Van Ruren 4 very good
lrttcr hy Pierc" IL not worth more than
~ or $50. for 81 YOU can get n Madison
| ltt,r and for the sans" prC" one 10y John
Quincy Adams. Andrew jackson letters
arr fairly plentiful. An ordinary " ~
worth s7.A. fancy ones. meaning those
whose contents arr valuable, bring from
$40 To SIS.
-Thomas Jefferson is a common one.
only A. ~ for an ordinary letter and 50
for a good one X u Hayc= is common
s. 81 grt- IN" of his letters. william Henry
Harrison wasn't given to driving the pen
and neither was Benjamin. Letters Of
Did npI+Canoe bring tt?.SO, - niamin
Harrison rarely wrote an cntir" letter him
selt. He almost always dictated To his
strnographor and while his signature II
comnnn enough. ia" complete letters are
rare and are already worth from S. Ia $40.
Grant, letters are not 49, rare hut. owing
to Ids greater fame historically. they ara
worth n good deal. An ordinary letter
sells for ti26O. Garfield's ar" worth "a
little loss and Arthur's. which are not
common, "A little lc~s still Here vs. n motto
from him introducing my young friend
Robert Morris. Rftcr~ard Mayor 81 Phila-
dclphia, 10 Jay Gould. That is worth
81 or o..
-But tho greatest demand Is Tor lin
coins lctt"rs. The Washingtons are worth
morr, but there arr not ~ many per~ons
who want them An ordinary document
hearing his signature is worth SIS. an
ordinary little u'tavo letter brings t2S.
The moro important the contents tho
higher the price. 4 thrce-page quaro
letter 20 stanton dealing With tho war.
soli IN Philadelphia last year for over
son. He invariably. - far as l know.
signcd n formal document with his full
name, Abraham Lincoln Letters he as
invariably signcd A. lincoln
Il have NJ full -ct Of Presidents Just
now, This sct lacks four Adams, Van
Bur-n. PerNe and Mckinley II is not
that they arr particularly unohtainahlr
II IL only hat the supply fuctua,e~ and
of cuur~n. In tho case Of Mr. Mckinlrv's
autograph, there II this Sudden heavy
demand which takes all the letters Of hts
that com" INV way Their arr plenty
81 them. The priCe will not e. up
sCollcCtorS arr not - impatient a. Ia h1v
n thing AZ a fancy price to-day when they
know that day after tomorrow. relatively
sIsaking, they can srt IL Tor a r-aspnahl"
tigurr. There ar- Isspie who hnNr Nckiu-
l-y letters Who douli.-s think they can
sell thssm now for $40 ar Sis anlsS~. Ihnt