George Washington's hair, JFK's sweater hit auction block ahead of Presidents' Day

With President Day just around the corner, locks of George and Martha Washington’s hair and pen that Warren Harding used to end the US involvement in WWI are hitting the auction block. According to Associated Press, a Boston-based RR Auction said that online biddings for quirky pieces of White House history will be underway February 11 to February 18. The items up for auction include John F Kennedy’s crimson Harvard sweater, a photograph of Lincoln and his son, Tad, signed by the 16th president and Andrew Johnson’s order of a national day of mourning after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. 

‘Nation’s founding to modern times’ 

Additionally, there are also a number of documents and personal papers signed by John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, James Garfield and other presidents. While speaking to the media outlet, RR Auction’s spokesperson Mike Graff said that the collection “honours America’s esteemed commanders-in-chief”. 

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“From the nation’s founding to modern times, these are the leaders who have guided the United States through times of war and peace,” he added. 

Further, the auction house informed that the clippings of the Washingtons’ hair were passed down through their grandniece’s family and include documentation. Johnson’s order for a day of mourning in Lincoln’s honour, on the other hand, is dated May 31, 1865. The letter read, “Tomorrow June 1 being the day appointed for Special Humiliation and Prayer in consequence of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln late President of the United States, the Executive Office and the Various Departments will be closed during the day”. 

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Harding used the signing pen on July 2, 1921, to adopt what became known as the Knox-Porter Resolution, which is a joint act of Congress drafted by two Pennsylvania Republicans, Senator Philander Knox and Rep. Stephen Porter, to terminate the U.S. role in WWI. The auction house also informed that JFK’s Harvard seater was acquired by Herman Lang, a CBS cameraman who filmed an interview with Jacqueline Kennedy in 1964, the year after JKF’s assassination in Dallas. The cameraman had mentioned that he was cold and one of the former first lady’s staffers brought him the cardigan. Lang had even said that he even tried to return it but was then told he could keep it as a memento. 

(Inputs & Images: AP) 

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