Sell or Auction Your John Brown Signed Letter for up to $10,000 or More at Nate D. Sanders Auctions
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Sell Your John Brown Signed Letter
Here are some signed letters we’ve sold from American abolitionist John Brown:
Abolitionist John Brown Autograph Letter Signed to Gerrit Smith, Brown’s Financier for the Raid at Harper’s Ferry — Brown Talks Money With Smith in 1857 — One of Few Letters Proving Financial Connection Between Brown & Smith
Historically important autograph letter signed by John Brown, written to Gerrit Smith, one of the key financial backers of Brown’s attempt to seize the U.S. Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Dated 15 May 1857 from Peterborough, New Hampshire, Brown asks Smith to coordinate the transfer of money. In part: “When you have received for me the $1,000…from Boston, please deduct from the amount of what is then due you on Franklin P. and Saml. B. Thompson’s land contract; together with One Hundred and ten Dollars…for which you hold on my note; also $150…advanced by me to said Thom[p]sons; which $150…please retain for me; and at once advise said Thompsons at North Elba, Essex Co., N.Y., by letter, of the receipt of the money by you; and also remit to them the balance on receipt of their contract assigned to me. When you have received money and Contract as above: please give Warrantee Deed to Mrs Ruth Thompson (of North Elba; my Daughter) of the south half of the lot sold by you to the Thompsons.” In the late 1850’s, both John Brown and Gerrit Smith were impatient with the slow progress of abolitionism, prompting Smith to contribute $16,000 to purchase guns in Kansas for Brown’s infamous raid at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. After the raid failed, Smith denied his connections to Brown and burned many of their incriminating documents, making this a rare example of an extant letter from Brown to co-conspirator Smith specifically discussing money transfers. Single page measures 7.75″ x 12.75″. Penciled notations in the lower margin appear to be those of Smith and contain figures mentioned in Brown’s letter. In very good condition with fold separations professionally repaired. Sold for $10,000.
John Brown Autograph Letter Twice-Signed — Rare Letter by the Abolitionist, Dated 1855 — With University Archives COA
John Brown autograph letter twice-signed, dated 13 March 1855, shortly before Brown moved to “Bleeding Kansas” where his fight against slavery took a more violent turn. To his wife from Illinois, Brown writes in full, “Dear Wife / I have purchased a small lot of Wheat, & Corn, which I think of keeping with [me] untill I get it through Toledo, or I should probably have been at home this Evening. I may be detained in getting it through some two or three days longer than it would otherwise take me; & therefore write. I have seen nothing of Fred K. as yet, & feel some disappointed [sic] on account of A. Have received the greater part of the money I expected of Fred K. Your Affectionate Husband / John Brown / March 14th at Chicago”. Brown also signs the verso on the integral address leaf, directing the letter to “Mrs. John Brown” in Akron, Ohio. Letter measures 7.875″ x 12.375″. Folds, small hole not affecting writing, and closed tear on right edge measuring approximately one inch. Writing to bottom portion of sheet. Overall very good condition with clear and legible handwriting. With University Archives COA. Sold for $3,938.
We’ve also sold the following related items:
William Lloyd Garrison autograph letter signed. From Roxbury, Massachusetts, the abolitionist writes to Reverand W.T. Briggs on 20 August 1872. Letter reads in part, ”…thanks for your cordial approval of my letter to Mr. Sumner…When I wrote that letter, I had no thought that it would attract anything like the attention it has done…As it was Mr. Sumner’s hope and intention to bias the minds of the colored voters of the country in favor of Mr. Greely’s election I felt that I owed it to them [the newly enfranchised black voters] as well as the people generally to confront him [Sumner] as a bad adviser at this crisis, and to warn them not to accept his conclusions on the grounds of the eminent service he has rendered their cause since he espoused it. Their response has been most hearty: they will not follow Mr. Sumner’s lead in this matter, but will register their votes in favor of the Republican administration and its candidate, almost to a man. Indeed, they need little if any guidance as to know how they shall vote; for they have a better knowledge of the spirit and designs of those who held them in bondage, and who rose in rebellion to make that bondage secure against fate itself, than any other class in the country; and they will act accordingly. As their physical aid was essential, on the battle-field, to the suppression of the rebellion; so their political power is equally necessary to save the government from falling into the hands of its most dangerous enemies, and it will be as triumphantly exerted. Very respectfully yours, William Lloyd Garrison”. Two-page letter on a single sheet measures 5” x 8”. Toning and creasing with some paper loss to upper right. Near fine given age, with beautiful, legible handwriting perfect for display. Sold for $9,582.
Frederick Douglass Autograph Quotation Signed — “Right is of no sex, truth is of no color. We are the equal children of a common Father and all men are Brothers” — With 30+ Signatures of 19th Century Abolitionists
Inspiring collection of signatures by 19th century abolitionists, with the crown jewel being an autograph quotation signed by Frederick Douglass, “Right is of no sex, truth is of no color. We are the equal children of a common Father and all men are Brothers – Frederick Douglass – March 31, 1868”. Album contains about 35 other signatures. Album is very worn with front board detached and backstrip missing. Some dampstaining present on front and rear blank pages. Page signed by Douglass is near fine with only toning to margins. Sold for $8,800.
Superb Harriet Beecher Stowe Autograph Letter Signed Regarding Slavery — “…Nothing more is needed than to awaken the attention of the public to an expose of the slave law system…”
Harriet Beecher Stowe autograph letter signed, with superb and rare content on slavery. Stowe writes from Andover, Massachusetts on 27 October 1852 at the height of popularity for ”Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which had been released in book form earlier that year. So important was her novel in depicting the cruelty of slavery and turning the north against it that President Lincoln is reported to have said to Stowe in 1862, ”so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”
Stowe writes to an unnamed gentleman who had sent her an article. She writes in part, ”…I am obliged to you for sending me the ‘text to my subject’ enclosed in your letter. It will be a very good one. Any one that stirs up this subject of southern law as a defence of slavery emphatically wakes up the wrong passenger. Nothing more is needed than to awaken the attention of the public to an expose of the slave law system. If they desire law on this subject, they shall have it.
With regard to the benevolent plan which you have presented, I am at present in a situation where my mind is so much pressed with immediately urgent undertakings that I cannot give it my attention – and it has appeared to me that in the selection of benevolent objects, I ought to have first & chief reference, to that race with whom my writings have been more immediately connected. It is stated in the printed article which you sent me that advertisements offering a price for the life of runaways never had existed. There are several specimens of them in [Theodore D.] Weld’s book [”American Slavery As It Was In 1839: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses”] extracted from the current papers of the time in which he wrote. I should however like some of a more recent date & if any such occur among your collection you might help the cause by furnishing me with them.
If you have any collection of advertisements indicating the low state of public sentiment toward the slave population of the south, I should be glad of them for use, and if you have been at any expense in collecting them, I will cheerfully pay it. / Yours very truly / H.B. Stowe”. Stowe then adds, ”P.S. I return you the article you were so kind as to send me, thinking it may be of value to you – ”.
Two page letter on one sheet of wove paper measures 8.75” x 10.5”. False margin, with remnants from previous mounting to its top edge. Single horizontal fold. Overall very good to near fine condition. Sold for $5,250.
Important autograph letter and report signed four times by Clara Barton, regarding her work in identifying the Missing Soldiers of the Civil War, which Barton led alongside Andersonville POW Dorence Atwater, who kept the ”death list” that instigated the project. In this letter and report to Barton’s ally General Benjamin Butler, Barton not only comments upon Atwater’s infamous imprisonment, but alleges that a systematic campaign to undermine her had been hatched during the Andersonville expedition, even to the point of sending forged Letters to the Editor in Barton’s name, so that she would ”appear odious and ridiculous”. Sold for $5,000.
Anti-Slavery Movement, A Lecture, By Frederick Douglass
“The Anti-Slavery Movement, A Lecture, By Frederick Douglass, Before The Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society.” Printed in 1855 in Rochester, New York, by the Press of Lee, Mann, and Co., Daily American Office. A name is written on the top of page 44. Measures 5 1/2″ x 8 13/16″. 48 pages. Restoration work on spine. Minor wear, foxing and staining on cover and interior pages and minor paper loss on the bottom of four pages. Very Good. Rare. Sold for $3,600.
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