Thursday, August 16, 2018

Oh no!



The hunt for auctioneers to settle a $9.7 million debt by selling off parts of a valuable collection of Lincoln artifacts, including an iconic stovepipe hat and gloves bloodied the night he was assassinated, began Wednesday, but the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Foundation cautioned a sale isn’t imminent.

The foundation voted in a private meeting to begin seeking an auction house to dispose of parts of the Taper collection of 1,400 items related to Lincoln in a move that foundation CEO Carla Knorowski said is necessary to meet the debt’s due date, not as a tactic to scare up state funding.

[...]

The $25 million collection was purchased in 2007 by borrowing $23 million — Taper donated $2 million worth of items. There’s a $9.7 million balance due in October 2019 on a loan that’s been re-financed and has strained the patience of private contributors.

While no one wants to see Illinois lose any of the items, Knorowski said, the process for preparing to sell has to begin now.

  TPM
How about a Go Fund Me?
The nine items associated with the late movie star Marilyn Monroe, including a dress that sold for $50,000 in June, were auctioned in Las Vegas. A foundation staff member started a crowdsourcing GoFundMe campaign , which has raised just over $10,000 from 213 people.
So, hell yeah, scare up some state funding.  Contact the Smithsonian.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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