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Albert Einstein by Marc Mellon
[ALBERT EINSTEIN],
Bronze sculpture, signed © Marc Mellon 2002. 23 in. high x 14 in. wide x 14 in. deep; base 4 in. high x 12 x 12. Number 5 of an edition limited to 9.
Item #26003.05, $76,000
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Winston Churchill by Marc Mellon
[WINSTON CHURCHILL],
Bronze sculpture signed, inscribed © Marc Mellon 1998, stamped “4/9”. 17" high x 14" wide x 11.5" deep, plus green marble base 4" high x 8.5" wide x 6.5" deep.
Item #26002.04, $55,000
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“George Washington” - Keith Carter Photograph
[GEORGE WASHINGTON]. KEITH CARTER,
Photograph. Child holds his copy of Gilbert Stuart’s famous “Athenaeum” portrait of George Washington. 1990. Number 6 of 50, 15 x 15 in.
Item #25394, $4,800
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Alex Haley Signs Check to the Cornell University Black Alumni Association
ALEX HALEY,
Signed Check, June 9, 1989. Drawn on the First Tennessee Bank in Knoxville. To “Cornell Univ. Black Alumni Assn.”. With “donation” in the memo field.
Item #20432.04, $500
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Alex Haley Signed Check
ALEX HALEY,
Signed Check, September 20, 1988. Drawn on the First Tennessee Bank in Knoxville. To “Patricia Alexander”. With “Love!” in the memo field and on the back is her endorsement and a note that says “Thanks!”.
Item #20432.02, $350
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Hillary Clinton Thanks Doctor for Policy Change to Allow Fathers to Be in Delivery Room for Caesarean Sections
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Paul N. Means, June 28, [1980], Little Rock, Arkansas. On Arkansas Governor’s Mansion notecard. 1 p., 5 x 7¼ in.
Thanking Dr. Paul Means for helping to change the policy of Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock to allow fathers to be present for Caesarean-section births. Four months earlier, she had given birth there to Chelsea Victoria, and Governor Bill Clinton had insisted on being present at the delivery.
Item #26561, $1,250
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Arthur Ashe’s United Negro College Fund Benefit Silver Bowl Trophy
[ARTHUR ASHE],
United Negro College Fund Silver Bowl, October 1977. Inscribed “UNCF- Arthur Ashe 3rd Annual Tennis Benefit / [sponsor] Burger King Corporation” 8 x 3¾ in.
Item #25681, $3,400
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Ben-Gurion Calls for a Jerusalem Home for the Bible Society: “every spiritual idea, for it to exist and exert influence, needs a physical structure, too, a central home…”
DAVID BEN-GURION,
Letter Signed to Menasche Elissar. 17 Kislev 5731, December 15, 1970. 1 p., 8½ x 11 in. Form letter on “The World Jewish Bible Society” letterhead. In Hebrew.
Item #20230, $1,800
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Harry S. Truman on His 1948 Proclamation Recognizing Israel
HARRY S. TRUMAN,
Typed Letter Signed, to Benjamin Cohen. Independence, Missouri, March 25, 1970. 1 p., 7¼ x 10½ in., with envelope with printed free frank.
“As for your interest in the proclamation of May 14, 1948, any document or statement issued by the President goes through a series of statements to make certain of its accuracy and clarity of meaning. I continue to hope that a reign of peace will soon come to pass.”
In this 1970 letter, Truman writes to Benjamin Cohen that his proclamation recognizing Israel’s independence was handled like any other presidential document. In reality, Truman’s recognition of Israel was sent only eleven minutes after receiving the news that Israel had proclaimed independence at midnight on May 14/15, 1948 (in the U.S., May 14, 6 pm, E.S.T.) The hastily typed original, with quick handwritten edits, is preserved in Truman’s Presidential Library. Secretary of State George C. Marshall and many others opposed the creation of a Jewish state. Any mention by Truman of his recognition of Israel is extremely rare.
Item #21308.01, $12,000
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Picasso Anti-War Image Used to Promote Vietnam War Protest
PABLO PICASSO. VIETNAM WAR,
March Against Death, March on Washington. Washington, DC: New Mobilization Committee, November 13, 1969. Two-color poster, illustrated with a Picasso image, by permission of the artist. 23 x 15 inches. Very fine.
Picasso donated a pen and ink “machines of war” drawing that served as the basis of this print to use in promoting the anti-war march planned for November 13-15, 1969. 250,000 or more people attended the march.
Item #22462, $1,200
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Georgia O’Keeffe’s Folding Safari Chair (or “Bunch of Sticks” She Used for Painting in the Desert) and Archive of 18 Autograph and Typed Letters Signed by O’Keeffe to Artist Marilyn Thuma
[Georgia O’Keeffe],
Folding Safari Chair. Given to artist Marilynn Thuma (aka Mym Tuma), in July 1969. 22 x 22 x 37¾ in. Made of varnished oak and tan canvas; refurbished. Minor soiling and fading to fabric. #26262 With Georgia O’Keeffe. Archive of 18 Autograph and Typed Letters Signed to Thuma, 1964-1973. Approximately 122 pp. + 21 photographs. #26261
“Do you want it? You may have it. I’ve been meaning to have a cover made for it. The arms are shredded.”—Georgia O’Keeffe to Mym Tuma (Marilynn Thuma), July 1969
Item #26262, $30,000
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Golda Meir Invites an American Semiconductor Pioneer to an Israeli Economic Conference
GOLDA MEIR,
Typed Letter Signed as Prime Minister, to Albert Soffa. Jerusalem, May 29, 1969. 2 pp. 8½ x 11 in. On Israeli Prime Minister letterhead.
Item #23283, $2,400
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Jackie Robinson says a talk radio host “needs to do a lot of soul searching.”
JACKIE ROBINSON,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Jon Anthony Dosa, ca. 1968-1969. Written on letterhead of St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco. 2 pp., 7¼ x 10½ in.
“He needs to do a lot of soul searching for he is the kind of guy we fear. His opportunity to spread his views and his cleverness will continue to be a stumbling block before we reach peace here at home.”
Item #25009, $5,500
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Lyndon B. Johnson Signing Pen for Voting Rights Act of 1965
LYNDON B. JOHNSON,
“One of the pens used by the President, August 6, 1965, in signing S. 1564, An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes,” per original printed slip in original box. Clear barrel pen, “The President-The Whitehouse” printed in white, with “Esterbrook” on the nib, 6⅜ in. long. With additional artifacts.
This artifact came from Arnold “Pappy” Noel (1922-2009), a longtime news photographer who at that time was in the Public Affairs Office of the Secretary of Defense. Noel earned his nickname in World War II as a B-29 tail gunner. After the war and his retirement, he joined United Press International as a newsreel and still photographer, filming presidential and White House events, marches on Washington and Selma, fires and riots in Washington and Detroit, and early NASA events. At the 1968 Democratic Convention, he became part of the story when he was injured and arrested for refusing to hand over his film of “excessive abuse of law enforcement agents towards demonstrators.” He was president of the White House Press Photographers Association for two years, leaving the press corps to work as a public affairs assistant to President Ford.
Item #27655, $20,000
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Senator Sprague of Rhode Island Writes About Fascinating Debates in Congress Involving Freedom for the Families of African American Recruits and the Limits of Free Speech in the Senate
[AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS],
William Sprague, Autograph Letter Signed, to William D. Ely, January 28, 1864, Washington, D.C. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in.
“a discussion upon a section of a Malitia bill freeing the wife & children of the slave that enlist will occupy most if not all the day.”
Item #26531, $1,250
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Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper’s Signed “Bioscience Data Plan” for Conducting Vital Biomedical Research on the Impact of Space Flight on the Human Body
GORDON COOPER JR.,
Typed Document Signed, “NASA PROJECT MERCURY WORKING PAPER NO. 164 / PROJECT MERCURY / BIOSCIENCE DATA PLAN,” December 1, 1960, inscribed “My personal copy / Gordon Cooper.” 7 leaves + covers, 8 x 10 ½ in. Three-hole punched on left side; some toning; very good.
Medical researchers wanted to gather “aeromedical” data and test effects on the Project Mercury astronaut’s body of “significant and unusual stresses of manned capsule flight.” The stresses they were looking into included weightlessness, acceleration tolerance, radiation, noise vibration, thermal stresses, and hypobaric and environmental control system effects. At the time, some scientists believed that weightlessness could lead to circulatory failure, disorientation, gastrointestinal and urinary disturbances, and lack of muscular coordination. The key conclusion of Project Mercury’s biomedical program was that human beings could function in the space environment for incrementally increasing flight durations of more than one day.
Item #24308.01, $750
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John F. Kennedy Signed Six-Volume Set of Early History of Ireland
JOHN F. KENNEDY,
Signed Books. Edward A. D’Alton, History of Ireland, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. London: Gresham Publishing Co., 1912. Complete in six half-volumes. 6 x 8.75 in. each. With color frontispieces (missing in one volume), black-and-white plates, illustrations, and one fold-out map of Ireland. Five of the six volumes are signed on the front free endpaper, and the sixth is signed on the back free endpaper, “John F. Kennedy” in black ink.
“Brian Boru was of the family of Cormac Cas. His father was Kennedy, son of Lorcan. He was slain in battle with the Danes (951). At his death Brian was but a lad of ten years.”
What must John F. Kennedy have thought, when he read his surname in this history of the royalty of Ireland from a millennium ago? Brian Boru went on to become the high king of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. He was less pleased to learn that the name Kennedy (Cennétig) meant “ugly head.”
President John F. Kennedy was America’s first Irish-Catholic president, with his family’s Irish roots stretching back for generations. The Fitzgerald and the Kennedy families both migrated to America in the mid-nineteenth century to escape the devastating potato famine and to find work and a better life. JFK relished his Irish heritage and visited Ireland during his presidency in June 1963.
Rev. Edward Alfred D’Alton was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1887 and served in several parishes before becoming dean and vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Tuam in 1930. As a historian, he was best known for his History of Ireland, published in three multi-volume editions between 1903 and 1925.
Item #27515, $36,000
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Kennedy v. Nixon First Televised Presidential Debate Poster
[JOHN F. KENNEDY],
Printed Broadside, Advertising Television Picture Tube to Enjoy Kennedy-Nixon Campaign. 1 p., 22½ x 39 in.
This poster uses the 1960 presidential campaign between Democrat nominee John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon to sell Sylvania television picture tubes. It features the faces of Kennedy and Nixon on a picture tube with a hand pointed to the bottom of the poster. It encouraged customers to “Enjoy the Presidential Campaigns More on a Silver Screen 85 Picture Tube” and to “Vote Here for Expert Radio-TV Service with Sylvania Tubes, Free Tube Testing Inside, Prompt ‘At-Home’ Service & Be Sure to Vote in November.” Local television dealers could add their business information beneath this poster.
Item #26689, $2,000
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Elmer W. Henderson – Who Defeated Railroad Dining Car Segregation – Congratulates African American Inventor for American Institute of Chemists Award
ELMER W. HENDERSON,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Lloyd Augustus Hall, January 15, 1958, Washington, DC. On “Congress of the United States / Committee on Government Operations / House of Representatives” letterhead. 1 p., 6 x 9 in.
Congressional attorney Elmer W. Henderson, a hero of the early civil rights movement, congratulates African American chemist Lloyd A. Hall for a recent professional honor. In 1955, Hall also became the first African American elected to the National Board of Directors of the American Institute of Chemists (AIC). The following year, the AIC awarded Hall the Honor Scroll Award. On special occasions, the AIC invites a prominent chemist or chemical engineer to lecture to the Members and Fellows of the AIC on a topic of professional interest. In September 1957, Hall delivered a lecture on “The Chemist and the AIC,” likely the occasion for this congratulatory letter from Henderson a few months later.
Item #26468, $450
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Martin Luther King Jr. Inscribes Stride Toward Freedom to Pioneer Civil Rights Leader A. Philip Randolph
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,
Signed Copy of Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, first edition. Inscribed to A. Philip Randolph. With Randolph’s annotations. New York: Harper and Row, 1958. 224 pp.
“To my dear Friend A. Philip Randolph.
In appreciation of the standards of loyalty, honesty, non-violence, and the will to endure that you have held before all people in the struggle for freedom justice, and democracy.
Martin”
A remarkable association of two key leaders of the Civil Rights movement, highlighting not only their similarities but also areas of disagreement. It offers important insights into their views at a critical moment in the fight for African-American equality. King’s book, with a rich personal inscription, was transformed by Randolph into a sort of dialog between them by his copious annotations, making this volume one of if not the most important King-signed book in existence.
Randolph annotated or marked 69 of the volume’s 224 pages. He underlined passages he found particularly powerful, and commented in the margins, echoing or amplifying King’s words.
Item #27430, $200,000
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