Consignments from five private collections, including one of the most comprehensive private compilations of Robert E. Lee photographs (many of which are signed by Lee) ever assembled, will be among the highlights in Heritage Auctions’ Americana & Political Auction May 4-5, 2019 in Dallas, Texas.
“The Dr. Donald A. Hopkins collection of Lee photos is remarkable both for its depth and breadth,” Heritage Auctions Americana Director Tom Slater said. “The auction includes some 100 lots, many of which contain multiple images, and includes numerous signed photos, rare poses, and images by noteworthy photographers both North and South.”
A diligent scholar of his subject, Dr. Hopkins authored the book Robert E. Lee in War and Peace, which is extensively illustrated with examples from this collection.
Among the top lots in the auction from the collection of Dr. Hopkins is a double-matted and framed photo of Lee photographed by Mathew Brady, a post-war printing of Lee’s 1864 “Blockade Portrait” by Vannerson & Jones, and an unpublished vignette bust of Lee taken by Isaac N. White and Joseph Kelley.
Other diverse categories strongly represented in the auction include political and presidential collectibles, Old West artifacts, items from the early days of the Woman’s Suffrage movement, and antique advertising. This includes a rare 1885 Punch Cigar Store advertising figure cast in zinc, fashioned in the form of one half of the Punch and Judy puppet show. Along with what is believed to be only three known copies of the broadside handbill celebrating General George Washington’s “Christmas Miracle” victory at Trenton.
Other noteworthy offerings include an 1844 campaign flag banner of Henry Clay, a letter by James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok to his wife Agnes a month before he was fatally shot by Jack McCall, an engraved sword presented to Major General John A. Sutter by the Sutter Rifles Militia Group, and the only known example campaign banner for the 1848 Whig Candidate and 12th President Zachary Taylor.
Among the 995 lots in the auction are more than three dozen Texana lots, including William Barret Travis: legal document signed “W B Travis”; G. Woolworth Colton. Colton’s New Map of the State of Texas; Texas circa 1840 map by George Conclin; Sam Houston receipt signed as President of the Republic of Texas; and Texas and Rio Grande land grant certificate.
In the Woman’s Suffrage category, the auction features the widely respected collection of Jeannine Coup of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the founder and editor of The Political Bandwagon, which reports on activity in the world of political items collecting. Highlights include a boldly colored trumpeter button, angelic trumpeter slogan button, rare enamel brooch, Susan B. Anthony birthday teaspoon and billowing pennant enamel brooch.
Other top lots include, but are not limited to a black and white variant of the Cox & Roosevelt jugate, Jordan B. Noble’s personally owned snare drum, a signed oil on canvas portrait of George Washington by Robert Street, an 1845 US Flag, and a life-size pastel portrait of Sam Houston by Harriet Anderson Stubbs Murphy.
