LINCOLN'S LAST SIGNATURE?: Signed envelope, believed to be real, found at flea market

Bruce Steiner, of South Amherst, discovered a small note written on the back of an envelope signed by President Abraham Lincoln in a box he purchased at Jamie's Flea Market years ago. The note was one of the last written documents by Lincoln, dated April 14, 1865. MORNING JOURNAL PHOTOS/NATE PARSONS
Bruce Steiner, of South Amherst, discovered a small note written on the back of an envelope signed by President Abraham Lincoln in a box he purchased at Jamie's Flea Market years ago. The note was one of the last written documents by Lincoln, dated April 14, 1865. MORNING JOURNAL PHOTOS/NATE PARSONS

SOUTH AMHERST -- "Let this man enter with this note. April 14, 1865. A. Lincoln."

The short sentence is written on a small envelope, tattered and discolored with age. But it has been a ticket to a big adventure for Bruce Steiner, who stumbled upon the lost fragment of history at the bottom of a box of assorted papers he purchased at Jamie's Flea Market in October 2006.

"I said it can't be real," Steiner recalled when he first laid eyes on the signature, dated the fateful day a bullet from John Wilkes Booth's Derringer ended Lincoln's life. Steiner, 56, a self-proclaimed Civil War buff, antique collector and amateur historian, said the note elicited skepticism from others as well.

"It was hard to get people to look at it," he said. "People can't believe it's real, and when I tell them I got it at a flea market, they sneer."

Local historical societies refused to return his e-mails and phone calls, but Steiner may have the last laugh. An expert at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a preservation project at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., believes the item is authentic.

John Lupton, associate director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, said the handwriting analysis he performed on the sample isn't an exact science.

"But there are a number of things about (Lincoln's) signature that are very distinct," he said. "This signature contains all the characteristics I look for. I'm pretty sure it's genuine."

The date helped to confirm his conclusion, Lupton said.

"That's what throws it over the edge for me as a good document," he said. "It's one thing for forgers to practice his handwriting. But the numerals are almost identical to the way Lincoln was writing in April 1865."

Lupton should know. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, which has assembled an online archive of about 50,000 documents, has several pieces of writing penned by Lincoln on April 14, 1865.

"He wrote a short note to (Secretary of State William Henry) Seward about a meeting at 11 a.m. April 14," Lupton said.

Lincoln also signed several petitions for release that day from former Confederate soldiers being held in federal prisons.

"If they were willing to take a pledge of loyalty to the Union, they could be pardoned," he said.

The signature and date that waited quietly more than 140 years for Steiner's discovery are consistent with those, according to Lupton.

"The text was a little sloppy, which was unusual for Lincoln," he said. "But on the other hand, it's on a small envelope, so he may have been writing it on his lap or someone's back."

Why did the 16th president sign this envelope on his last day, perhaps only hours before donning his stovepipe hat and climbing into a carriage for his ride to Ford's Theatre?

"That's the $64,000 question," Lupton said. "I've talked to a few people who think it might have had something to do with getting into the White House. Lincoln had an open-door policy of letting people in to ask him questions."

Dan Weinberg is the proprietor of the Chicago-based Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, which specializes in Lincoln, the Civil War and other U.S. presidents. The shop also handles letters, autographs, photographs, campaign memorabilia and other bric-a-brac from America's past, including a desk from Appomattox Court House.

Steiner's humble envelope with the immortal signature is a significant find because of the date, Weinberg said.

"Without seeing it, it's hard to know what it's worth," Weinberg said, adding the recession has complicated the appraising of collectibles. But interest is still high in Lincoln materials this year, the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.

Steiner's find could be worth $15,000 to $20,000, Weinberg said.

"Probably $25,000 tops," he said. "Because it's only a date, but it's a date that reverberates."

Steiner, who keeps the precious link to America's past in a safety-deposit box in a bank, said he has no plans to sell it.

"It could be Lincoln's last signature on this Earth," Steiner said. "Who knows?"

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