A pair of clipped tickets to the production of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, the scene of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, $210,000 (£173,500) at RR Auction.
The scene at Ford’s Theatre has been well documented through newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts, and countless tellings and re-tellings of the tragedy.
During the third act, Booth entered the president’s box from the rear, fired a bullet into the back of his head, and vaulted over the railing onto the stage. Brandishing a dagger overhead, Booth reportedly borrowed from Brutus and shouted “sic semper tyrannis” (thus always to tyrants) before making his escape.
The holders of these tickets, seated in the front row of the Dress Circle balcony almost directly across from the president’s box, would have had a perfect view of the harrowing events.
Only a handful of authentic examples of Ford’s Theatre tickets from April 14, 1865, are known to exist. This pair were previously part of the Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents sold at Christie’s in October 2002.
It was one of two significant Lincoln-related items in the sale. Topping the auction was a Lincoln-signed first edition of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, hammering at $475,000 (£392,500) against an estimate of $100,000- 150,000. The 1858 debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for a US Senate seat from the state of Illinois are considered a landmark in American political history. Though Douglas would win the election, the visibility of the debates created national awareness for Lincoln, who would go on to win the nomination in 1860 and eventually become president.
