Not so long ago ephemera as a collectible category was an interesting idea that was busy being born. Over the past 20 years it has been making the greatest gains in value and its place as a collectible is today well established. Nevertheless, it still takes some time to get used to the increase in the numbers. Here’s a fresh example.
On 23 September, 2023 RR auctions handled some very rare books and paper and among these lots were two ticket stubs for $262,500. Ranked among the top 500 lots sold in 2022, that outcome would have ranked No. 164. That’s a formidable result for ticket stubs!
Here’s the lot description.
Lot Number
6018
Author
Abraham Lincoln
Title
Abraham Lincoln Assassination: (2) Ford's Theatre Front-Row Tickets from April 14, 1865 (ex. Forbes Collection)
Year Published
1865
Place Printed
Printed By
Description
Exceedingly rare pair of original front-row balcony tickets to the production of 'Our American Cousin' at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, during which President Abraham Lincoln was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth. Each ticket measures 4.25 x 1.75 and is stamped at the center: "Ford's Theatre, APR 14, 1865, This Night Only." The left sides of the tickets are imprinted, "Ford's Theatre., Friday., Dress Circle!," and are filled out in pencil with section ("D") and seat numbers ("41" and "42"). The right sides are clipped, evidently by the ticket-taker when presented for admission, and carry the printed signature of "Jas. R. Ford, Business Manager." Includes an envelope annotated in a contemporary hand: "Front Seats, Dress Circle, Reserved, Complimentary, Fords Theatre, April 14, 1865, (Night of Assassination of President Lincoln)." The tickets are in very good condition, with fragile central vertical folds, some light creasing, and one with a chipped lower corner.
The circular April 14th-dated stamp is an exact match to one unused, yellow 'Orchestra' level ticket held by the Shapell Manuscript Foundation; this matching stamp also appears on a used ticket stub in the collection of Harvard University's Houghton Library. The Harvard stub, which consists of only the left half of the ticket, was filled out in pencil in a similar manner to these two. Only a handful of authentic examples of Ford's Theatre tickets from the fateful night of April 14, 1865, are known to exist.
Provenance: The Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents, Christie's, October 9, 2002.
John Wilkes Booth always wanted to be famous and he achieved that immortal notoriety, though not in the way he originally envisioned. Though rightly notorious for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, Booth was already a well-known actor; he said that of all Shakespearean characters, his favorite role was Brutus, the slayer of a tyrant. In 1863, Booth performed for the first time at Ford's Theatre in Washington, taking the lead in The Marble Heart. Among his admiring audience was President Abraham Lincoln himself, who rapturously applauded Booth’s performance.
The scene at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865, has been well documented through newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts, and countless tellings and re-tellings of the tragedy. The holders of these tickets, seated more or less directly across from the president's box, would have had a perfect view of the harrowing events. During the third act, Booth entered the president's box from the rear, fired a bullet into the back of his head, and vaulted over the railing onto the stage. Brandishing a dagger overhead, Booth reportedly borrowed from Brutus and shouted 'sic semper tyrannis 'thus always to tyrants” before making his escape. An illustration published in Harper's Weekly, April 29, 1865, features an artist's concept of the aftermath of the slaying, drawn from the "Dress Circle" level at about the same angle as these seats in "Section D."
This type of Ford's Theatre ticket for April 14, 1865, is exceedingly rare as auction records reveal no other examples offered since their original sale as part of the Forbes Collection in 2002.
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Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
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Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
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Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
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Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
