Wilton-based University Archives has announced an online-exclusive auction for Aug. 17 that will feature a 537-lot selection of rare autographs, books and manuscripts spanning U.S. history from the colonial era through the 1990s.
Among the most notable items that will be up for auction is a 1752 survey of a land tract signed by George Washington, a 1756 receipt signed by Benjamin Franklin for his Pennsylvania Gazette and a pay receipt from the 1780s signed by Daniel Boone during his service as a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly.
Also up are an 1868 letter by Jefferson Davis during his exile in Canada, an 1871 letter written by Gen George A. Custer, a 1948 first edition copy of “The Babe Ruth Story” signed by the Yankees legend, a 1956 personal check and a typed letter from the same year signed by then-Sen. John F. Kennedy, and a 1961 letter written by Lee Harvey Oswald to his mother when he was living in the Soviet Union.
“At 537 lots, this sale is our largest ever, eclipsing the previous company record-holder, our 534-lot auction held January 6th,” said John Reznikoff, president and owner of University Archives. “The sale boasts a spectacular variety of items representing the best of U.S. Presidential, Early American and the Civil War/Western collecting categories, plus music, sports, art and literature.”
Photo: A Benjamin Franklin engrossed and signed receipt from 1756 for his Pennsylvania Gazette, the Philadelphia newspaper he had established in the late 1720s.
