[Abraham Lincoln]. Illinois State House of Representatives desk. Used circa 1836-1840. With 1920s documentation ...

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$45,000.00 Bid Source: Internet bidder

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Illinois House of Representatives Desk from the State House in Vandalia, Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

[Abraham Lincoln]. Illinois State House of Representatives desk. Used circa 1836-1840. With 1920s documentation and provenance. Constructed of yellow walnut wood and featuring a red split-panel top with a hinged section on the left side for storage and a key-locking drawer on the right side (lacking key). The top of the desk rests on four ornate-turned wooden legs. Abraham Lincoln ultimately served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Whig for Sangamon County from 1834-1842. During that time, he voted to expand suffrage beyond white landowners to include all white males; advocated a "free soil" stance, opposing both slavery and abolition; and, admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836, began his law career where he quickly emerged as a formidable combatant during cross-examinations and closing arguments.

This desk was likely used by Lincoln in the House of Representatives in the State House at Vandalia, Illinois, prior to 1839, at which time it was removed to Springfield when the state government was officially moved by a proclamation of the Governor. The legislature at the time made use of a church building for their sessions as the new Capitol Building was not yet finished. On May 3, 1840, a new contract was entered into with C. M. Polk to make new desks for the House, intended to be delivered on November 15, 1840. Presumably they were, and the new session met for the first time in the new Capitol building on December 7, 1840. This would be the only time Lincoln sat as a legislator in the Old State Capitol at Springfield. Lincoln's old desk from the State House at Vandalia, according to a piece of paper taped to the underside of the desk and mentioned in an early 20th-century affidavit, then came into the possession of John G. Graham. Graham served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives for Fulton County from 1858-1864.

Condition: Back left leg sensitively restored.

Provenance: The desk is accompanied by three original documents and one holograph manuscript copy documenting the item's provenance.

The first, a copy of an early 20th-century affidavit, unsigned, and titled "Abe Lincoln's Old Desk," describes in detail the acquisition of the desk by Mr. C.E. Kuhlthau in 1898.

The affidavit reads, in part: "In 1898, Mr. C.E. Kuhlthau, now of Deleware Ohio represented the Drummond Tobacco Co. of St. Louis Mo, in Illinois, with Headquarters at Springfield, Ill.... He had rented a furnished room from a lady on Sixth Street near Munroe and told his land lady that he required some kind of a table to do his writing on, which she agreed to get for him." Unable to get a table, Kuhlthau's landlady furnished him with an old desk that had been stored in an old chicken house shed that "had been the property of an old gentleman who had been a member of the Illinois Legislature for years and who had roomed with her for over twenty years." Kuhlthau later discovered an old piece of paper taped on the underside of the desk, now lost, which read: "This desk was used by Abraham Lincoln during his last two terms as a member of the Illinois Legislature from 1838-1842. It was afterwards occupied by J.C. [G.?] Graham, a personal friend of Lincoln, who acquired its possession and ownership when the state replaced the old fashioned desks with new ones." This crucial piece of evidence was, unfortunately, lost when Kuhlthau sent the desk to be repaired after purchasing it from the landlady for $2.00.

An autograph letter, dated 28 May 1920 and signed from Kuhlthau attesting to the donation of the desk to Henry E. Buck, then-Curator of the Museum Department of the Delaware Public Library, adds another link to this chain of ownership. According to Kuhlthau's affidavit, the desk was intended to form part of the local collection at the Public Library. Whether this did in fact occur and was later deaccessioned remains uncertain. However, the desk reappears in the 1970s as part of a discussion between a new owner, John W. Bricker, and James T. Hickey, Curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Illinois State Historical Library (now the Abraham Lincoln Public Library).

Four typed letters of correspondence, three from Hickey and a fourth from Dr. Wayne C. Temple, to former Senator and 54th Governor of Ohio, John W. Bricker, discuss the provenance of the desk, specifically an analysis of the desk confirming its authenticity and placement in the Illinois House of Representatives. Other points discuss Kuhlthau's affidavit (the name Kuhlthau gives as "Graham" is identified here), as well as how Lincoln's desk might have made its way from the State House at Vandalia to a room owned by an unassuming landlady in Springfield, Illinois.

We know of only one other Abraham Lincoln desk in private hands. From the Melvin "Pete" Mark, Jr. Collection

Auction Info

2022 December 1 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6267 (go to Auction Home page)

Auction Dates

December, 2022

1st Thursday

Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 5

Lot Tracking Activity: N/A

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Sold on Dec 1, 2022 for: $45,000.00

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