Recent Discoveries

1841 Engagement Watch

In February of 2006 "The 1841 Abraham Lincoln wedding gift that Mary Todd never saw" was sold by Heritage Galleries to a high bid of $60,000.00. Following is a description of this item from the website:

The history is that Lincoln purchased this blue enamel, diamond-studded 18 karat gold timepiece as an engagement present to Mary Todd in 1841, as is engraved on the inside back cover. After his broken engagement in 1841, Lincoln became severely depressed. The information included with this auction is that after the breakup with Mary Todd, he never gave her the watch. For some unknown reason, he ended up giving this watch to Mary N. Curtis, who was visiting from Kentucky. She passed this watch along to her friend, Elizabeth DeWitt, along with a letter in which she writes "Do you remember the beautiful blue watch with the diamond stones our beloved Lincoln gave me that memorable afternoon of January, 1841, with the inscription inside... 'Well I want you to accept it from me and keep it as a remembrance from me'. The watch had a chain of ownership from this point on, at one point disappearing for over 30 years. It found a home in Hunry Luhr's Lincoln Library in 1952, where it remained until this auction in February of 2006.