Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 79

U.S. Statesmen

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 87		Bryan, William Jennings (1860-1925) Democratic candidate for President in 1896, 1900, and 1908; he was known as the "Great Populist" and hailed for his oratory skills. He served under Woodrow Wilson as Secretary of State but, being a pacifist, stepped down as war approached. He is best remembered for his battle against the great Clarence Darrow in the Scopes "Monkey Trial," a trial that sapped all of his strength and caused his death. Typed letter signed ("W.J. Bryan"), 1p., 5½ x 8", Lincoln, Neb., July 31, 1896. Having just been chosen as the Democratic presidential nominee at the convention in Chicago, Bryant writes to the great political economist Alexander del Mar (1836-1926), thanking him for his letter of congratulations and for "your expressions of good will and for the interest your Committee is taking in this campaign." Del Mar was an American political economist, historian, numismatist and the first director of the Bureau of Statistics at the U.S. Treasury Department from 1866-69. Del Mar was a rigorous historian who made important contributions to the history of money. He was distinctly hostile to a central monetary role for gold as a commodity money, championing the cause of silver and its re-monetization as a prerogative of the state. In that mind, Del Mar was the New York state chairman of the Silver Party, and spoke in support of Bryan at the Chicago convention. In a memorable speech to the convention, Bryant himself had delivered a blistering attack on the gold standard. A wonderful association! Estimated Value $600 - 800. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 88		Clay, Henry (1777-1852) Lawyer and statesman famed for his oratory. He served three terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829. His three attempts at the presidency--in 1824, 1832 and 1844--all came to naught. In 1824, he threw his electoral votes to John Quincy Adams, who made him secretary of state; the Jacksonians denounced this "corrupt bargain." Along with Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, he formulated the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. Lincoln was a great admirer of his. Autograph document signed ("H. Clay"), 2pp, 12½ x 7½", Lexington (Kentucky), n.d. (c. 1800). Addressed "To the Honble the Judges of the District Court of Lexington sitting in Chancery"; Clay represents James and Lucy Barbour and William and Fanny Johnson in a land case. Fine. Estimated Value $400 - 600. The Arden Family Holdings of Beverly Hills. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 89		Edward Everett (1794-1865) Minister, politician, diplomat, Governor, Representative and U.S. Senator, considered one of the greatest orators of his generation. The apex of his fame may well have been the two-hour oration at the dedication of the Battlefield at Gettysburg in November 1863, a speech lauded by his contemporaries, though held up ever since as a long-winded foil for Abraham Lincoln's two-minute-long masterpiece, the Gettysburg Address. In an autograph quotation signed on a 3 x 5" piece of paper less than a year after the Gettysburg dedication, Everett extols the nation's first President, " Washington was the greatest of good men & the best of great men. Edward Everett. Boston 3 Sept. 1864." Very fine. Estimated Value $600 - 800. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 90		Ellsworth, Oliver (1745-1807) American lawyer and politician, a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, United States Senator from Connecticut, and the third Chief Justice of the United States. Autographed document signed, request for payment to Jonah Clark, 8½ x 6¼", June 28, 1777, 2pp. front & back, on one slip of paper, slight paper toning. Fine condition. Estimated Value $125 - 200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $98
Lot 91		Greeley, Horace (1811-72) Editor, reformer, politician. His newspaper, The New York Tribune, was the most influential U.S. newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s. In 1872, Greeley was the Liberal Republican Party's presidential candidate; he lost in a landslide and died before the electoral votes were counted. Autograph note signed on a 2½ x 3½" card, n.p. Greeley gives a bried autobiographical sketch of himself: "Horace Greeley, born at Amherst, N.H. Feb. 3, 1811. came to New York…1831. established New Yorker Nov. 22, '34 and Tribune, Aril 10, 1841." Written in Greeley's usual sloppy penmanship, with a few ink blots. Penciled note on verso, "Rec'd 1864." Very good. Estimated Value $200 - 250. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 92		Kennedy, Joseph P (1888-1969) Businessman, investor, U.S. minister to Great Britain, best known as father of President John F. Kennedy, and Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy. Senator John F. Kennedy's membership card in the Veterans of Foreign Wars signed by Joseph Kennedy, as Post Quartermaster, 2¼ x 4", Feb. 1960. JFK is Member No. 1 and the card certifies that his dues are paid through Dec. 31, 1960. The post was named for JFK's brother, Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., who was shot down during a bombing mission over the English Channel in 1944. After Joseph Jr.'s death, Joseph Sr. would pin the family's political aspirations on John, who had intended to be a journalist; instead, he went into politics. An excellent association between JFK, his older brother, and his father. Estimated Value $1,200 - 1,500. Ex Robert White Collection. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 93		Kennedy, Robert F (1925-1968) U.S. attorney general and adviser during the administration of his brother President John F. Kennedy (1961-63). Later U.S. senator (1965-68), he was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the presidential nomination. Typed letter signed as U.S. Senator, on official letterhead, 1p, 10¾ x 8", Washington, May 15, 1968. To James R. Wetmore of Whittier, California, "I just wanted you to know that I have received your comments concerning the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although we are in disagreement on this particular matter, I did want you to know that I appreciated your taking the time to write to me." Fine. We don't know what Mr. Wetmore said which prompted Senator Kennedy's disagreement. We do know that six weeks earlier, on April 4, 1968, RFK was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Indianapolis, Indiana, when word came of Dr. King's assassination. Kennedy was advised not to appear in front of the crowd, many of whom were African American, and who were not aware of Dr. King's death. Literally taking his life in his hands, Robert Kennedy stood in front of the crowd and said these words: "Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because…I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love. For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder. But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land. Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much." Two months later, on June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after giving a campaign speech. He died at 1:44 AM on June 6th. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,250. The Arden Family Holdings of Beverly Hills. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 94		Kennedy, Robert F. Photo signed, 7 x 5", n.d., n.p. A formal head-and-shoulders portrait, staring directly into the camera. Signed in the lower white border. Very fine. Estimated Value $300 - 500. The Arden Family Holdings of Beverly Hills. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $300
Lot 95		Kennedy, Robert F. Framed cut signature, on a 1¾ x 2¾" piece of off-white paper, dated 5/28/68 in another hand, with a snapshot of RFK in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel, where he would be assassinated eight days later. The signature is slightly faded. Matted to an overall size of 11 x 8". Estimated Value $150 - 200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $102
Lot 96		Pair of U.S. Cabinet Members Signed Covers. Cover with cachet of Truman and cancelled in Washington, D.C. Dec. 26 1972, includes signatures by Tom C. Clark, W. Averell Harriman, John W. Snyder, Robert A. Lovett, Clinton P Anderson, and Charles Brannan. A 1968 First Day Cover urging "Register and Vote" includes signatures by Barry Goldwater, Strom Thurmond, Hubert H. Humphrey, George Wallace, Alf Landon, William E. Miller, John Sparkman, and others. Estimated Value $250 - 300. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold