Blood-stained gloves from one of the most infamous moments in US history sell for $1.52 MILLION

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

Abraham Lincoln's blood-stained leather gloves - carried in his pocket the night he was assassinated - fetched a staggering $1.52 million at auction Wednesday, as a trove of historical artifacts was sold off to pay down an $8 million debt.
The gloves were the star attraction among 144 rare Lincoln-related items that hit the block at Freeman's/Hindman Auction House in Chicago.
A total of 136 pieces were sold, raising a whopping $7.9 million - though that figure includes steep buyers' premiums of around 28 percent, tacked on to cover auction house fees.
The sale was the dramatic result of a two-decade-old financial mess involving the Lincoln Presidential Foundation.
Back in 2007, the foundation borrowed big to buy a 1,540-piece collection from California collector Louise Taper. The items were meant to boost the appeal of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, which had opened just two years earlier.
Intended to remain in public hands forever, the collection instead became a casualty of slow fundraising, financial strain and an interagency feud, the Associated Press reported.
President Abraham Lincoln
Over the years, the foundation sold off non-Lincoln pieces and even threatened to part with more prized items in order to keep the museum afloat.
In addition to Lincoln's infamous blood-stained leather gloves, other big-ticket sales Wednesday included one of two handkerchiefs Lincoln had on him the night he was shot, April 14, 1865.
The prized handkerchief sold for an unbelievable sum of $826,000.
A 'Wanted' poster featuring assassination conspirators, including John Wilkes Booth, was also put up for sale, pulling in $762,500 - a figure which shocked auctioneers as it sold far above its top estimate of $120,000.
Another item auctioned off included the earliest known example of Lincoln's handwriting, scribbled in an 1824 notebook and sold for $521,200.
However, one controversial item was notably absent from the auction: Lincoln's stovepipe hat which was once appraised at $6 million and touted as the crown jewel of the Taper collection.
In 2012, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation cast doubt on the iconic historical piece's authenticity, which was said to have been gifted to the 16th President by a southern Illinois supporter. Years later, a 2019 study confirmed the Sun-Time hypothesis suggesting that no proof exists that the hat ever belonged to Lincoln.
The Lincoln Presidential Foundation did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com email messages seeking comment.