A Lincoln campaign poster.
I’ve been a fan of Abraham Lincoln for as long as I can remember. Probably, though, my love and admiration for him really took hold after I read Carl Sandburg’s poetic, monumental biography of Lincoln in my late teens.
Years later I discovered the Lincoln Forum and learned my feelings are shared by countless Americans, especially those in this national organization. It is “an assembly of people who share a deep interest in the life and times of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era.”
One of the high points of my year is attending the annual symposium of the Forum in Gettysburg, Pa. Some of the greatest scholars, authors, university professors, collectors, Lincoln reenactors and members like me convene to hear lectures, panel discussions, and presentations each November. A new discovery relating to Lincolniana gives us the keenest excitement.
During a Christmas visit to my family in California, I experienced an unforgettable instance of serendipity involving Lincoln. At a progressive dinner in El Dorado Hills, Calif., I began talking to a woman in the host’s kitchen. I don’t remember how the subject came up, but I may have mentioned my having recently attended the latest Lincoln Forum. Her face brightened and she said, “Have I got a story to tell you.” She began unfolding a tale that kept me speechless and spellbound.
Edye Kaanehe is the granddaughter of Ed (now deceased) and Mary Dillman of Ripon, Calif. She preceded her story with a caveat that her facts might not be exactly right … that her grandmother would be able to tell me everything correctly. I agreed I would follow up with a phone call to Mary.
Edye continued, “I’ve always been very close to my grandparents.” She had visited them often and always admired the huge, framed poster that hung over their fireplace. Her grandfather had acquired it from a man everyone called “Big Jim,” who had fallen on hard times and asked Ed for a loan of $200. When the time came for Big Jim to repay the loan, he admitted he didn’t have the money but told Ed, “I have something you might be interested in.” He confided to his son, “I want Ed to have this. I could never afford to restore it.”
He brought the poster folded in half, then in thirds between two large pieces of cardboard. Big Jim told Ed, “My grandma gave this to me when I was 12 years old. She had lived back East when she was just a teenager. She had taken it [the poster] off a barn wall in the mid-1860s.”
[Her family] came to California around “the Horn” and landed in San Francisco. It was when they moved to Modesto that Jim gave the poster to Ed. It proved to be a rare campaign poster that promoted the Abraham Lincoln/Andrew Johnson ticket for Lincoln’s reelection in 1864.
Ed kept it between the sheets of cardboard under his bed, opening it once or twice. Each time the paint flaked off a little because it had been hand-colored. It was getting dangerously fragile.
While still living in Modesto, Ed and Mary showed the poster to a museum director in Stockton, who directed them to a firm in Berkeley that could restore it. They shipped it via UPS. The restoration company informed the Dillmans that the company could not ship it back by UPS; Mary and Ed must pick it up in person. Later, Mary took had the poster framed.
Meanwhile they had built a new home, and they made sure the house had high ceilings to accommodate the poster, which was about 5 feet tall. They knew by then how valuable it was.
The Dillmans conveyed the poster from the car to the venue in a special dolly when the television program “Antiques Roadshow” came to Sacramento. Not surprisingly, it was appraised on camera.
After examining the poster, the Roadshow appraiser said if he had it for sale in his shop, he would put the price at $25,000. Mary and Ed were disappointed. They felt sure the poster was worth much more than that. They had once had a gift shop and would occasionally display the poster in their shop. Mary told me, “One antique dealer from Arizona said, ‘I never thought I’d ever see anything like this. How much would you ask for it?” Ed answered, “It’s not for sale.” The dealer continued, “ Would you take $35,000?” Ed again said, “It’s not for sale.”
Ed passed away seven years ago. Mary eventually decided to advertise the poster on Ebay but withdrew the listing after not seeing any tempting offers for some time.
When Steven A. Cohen, a billionaire American hedge fund manager who collects art and has the largest collection of political campaign posters in the United States, contacted Mary, his six-figure offer finally convinced her to sell. Cohen’s brother and a friend drove to California from Las Vegas in a jeep to collect this treasure.
When a jeep pulled up at her house, Mary, who had expected them to arrive in a limousine at the very least, decided to invite a friend to accompany her to the bank for a certified check.
She was told Cohen planned to display the Lincoln/Johnson campaign poster in the entryway to his office.
Shortly afterward, Mary gathered enough courage to tell her granddaughter she had sold what the family had always called “The Poster.” With the proceeds she planned to buy a new car and to divide the remainder among her family.
“When Gram bought her new car,” said Edye, “I ordered a frame for the license plate that said, “Thank you, Mr. Lincoln.”
I think this would have given Lincoln a hearty laugh.
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