Peak season notice: Shipping for this category may take 14–21 business days after cleared payment. Thanks for your patience.
LOT #42134 |
Starting Bid: $2,000
John Tyler Autograph Letter Signed...
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Description
Insolvent Former President, John Tyler, Pleads Forbearance of His Debts from His Washington D.C. Bankers, Fending Off the Seizure of His Virginia Property Until His Death
John Tyler Autograph Letter Signed ("John Tyler").
Three pages (silked), 10 x 8 inches; Charles City County, Virginia;
November 9, 1846.Former President, John Tyler writes a letter to the Corcoran & Riggs, a preeminent private banking house in Washington D.C., explaining his unlucky agricultural failure and cash flow problems, the potential sale coal-rich land, and the request to extend his loan for fear of selling Sherwood Forest Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia to be a sacrifice if sold too quickly and thus cheaply. The letter reads, in full:
"Gentlemen;
Your last letter only reached me on Friday and I answered you by the earliest mail which Has since occurred. We have but two mails per week and we gave return mails only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you were disappointed in not receiving a curtail on my note to you how much more grievously was I. I had seeded a large crop of wheat last fall, which in all the stages of its growth promised an abundant yield - and so it continued up to within a week of harvest when the rainy season commenced and instead of 3000 bushels I made 1,000 of the most shriveled and miserable grain. After deducting the best of it, some 300 bushel for seed I sent the rest to Richmond and obtained but 62 ½ per bushel for it. I am precise because I would not have you believe that I had been for a moment unmindful of my obligations to you. In truth I tried to raise the money for you when in New York but things were in that condition to prevent me. In the meantime I received the accounts from Kentucky of which I have already advised you and concluded to throw myself upon your indulgence until I could realize just expectations from the quarter. Your letter declining any cooperation in that matter and I have written to Tilford and Samuel declining their proposition and directing any unconditional sale of the land on the shortest possible credits. May I not hope that this will be affected at a day sufficiently early to enable me to take up the entire note when it comes again due. There are persons enough anxious to purchases but I fear a sacrifice which could but be avoided by working the mines ourselves. So far as I am concerned I am prepared to meet any sacrifice sooner than disappoint you further. Will you then be content to let my note be renewed for the full term. If in the meantime I can place myself in a situation to make a partial or total payment I shall most certainly do it. If I gave two notes one at 60 and the other at 120 days I should have to sacrifice my property here to raise the money for as to borrowing when all have experienced a common calamity the thing is impossible. But mark me and regard the whole matter as in your hands. I have no right to withhold payment one day beyond your declaration to the contrary and however great the sacrifice or inconvenience it will be my duty to comply with your demand.
Since writing you last I have received the statement of the minor who states the coal to be equal to anything he ever saw in England and superior to any other mine he had met in this country. The whole of it is the canole coal and in this he sustained by the certification of gentlemen of the first respectability in the neighborhood.
Very truly
Your oblig'd
John Tyler
P.S. I have rediscovered the draft of Tilford Samuel for $174 38/100."
Condition: Overall very good. Minor consistent toning to all pages throughout commensurate with age. All pages silked with minor fraying along top edge. Some scattered small holes on the first and second pages, not affecting the text. With strong ink and elegant signature on verso. Minor engrained dirt on interior left-hand margin due to handling. Mounting strip on left-hand verso accompanied by a small half-inch split of the integral fold joining the bottom edge. Fold marks prominent on verso.
Auction Info
2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction #6331 (go to Auction Home page)
Proxy Bidding Ends
June
19th
Friday
10:50 am CT
Auction Dates
June
19th
Friday
Proxy Bidding Time Remaining
11 Days
19h 12m 47s
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 0
Lot Tracking Activity: 1
Page Views: 40
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% of the successful bid (minimum $49) per lot.
This lot is in: 1 -
Signature® Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 42001-42298) - 11:00 AM Central Time, Friday, June 19, 2026.
[Proxy bidding ends ten minutes prior to the session start time. Live Proxy bidding on Heritage Live now starts within 2 hours of when the auction opens for proxy bidding and continues through the live session.]
Exhibition Viewing Times, Title Page, Floor Session and License Information
Additional Location Info:
Heritage Auctions - Dallas
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, TX 75261
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms