CHICAGO – Potter & Potter Auctions will hold a nearly 700-lot Historical Memorabilia & Americana Sale on Thursday, November 17, starting at 10 am Central time. It will feature relics of the suffrage movement, Civil Rights ephemera and Civil War memorabilia, as well as materials relating to Abraham Lincoln and other American presidents. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
Items with ties to the worldwide women’s suffrage movement comprise a notable category in the November 17 sale. Standouts include a British hunger strike silver medal estimated at $10,000-$15,000. It was made in London by Toye & Co. in 1914 and is dedicated to suffragette Emma Power. It measures one inch in diameter and features suspension bars; a green, white, and purple ribbon; and its original presentation case. These medals were presented to women who engaged in hunger strikes during imprisonment by the Women’s Social and Political Union at ceremonies held in their honor following their release. Women would ultimately be granted the right to vote in the UK in 1918.
Also on offer is a medal awarded to Boy Scout Fred C. Reed for assistance during the 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade. Estimated at $2,000-$4,000, this original bronze medal with a bronze suspension bar is detailed with two Boy Scouts on one side and a dedication from the National American Woman Suffrage Association on the other. It reads: “Presented to Fred C. Reed in grateful acknowledgement of duty well-done. Washington, D.C. 3 March 1913.”
Equally of interest is a circa-1913 Votes for Women sash, estimated at $1,200-$2,000. Similar sashes can be seen worn by marchers at the Woman Suffrage Parade held March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as president. Purple, gold and white were originally adopted by the UK’s Women’s Social and Political Union and were then adopted by the suffragette movement’s militant counterparts, the Congressional Union, for the Woman Suffrage Parade.
This sale also features a strong selection of materials related to Abraham Lincoln, such as an 1864 presidential campaign double-sided ferrotype medal depicting Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, estimated at $2,000-$3,000. It is believed that this item was mass-produced by the Republican Party during the 1864 presidential campaign. The image of Lincoln is a reversed image of a photo taken in February 1864; this same photo was later used as the basis of the Lincoln engraving seen on today’s $5 bill.
Posters, ephemera, and category-spanning rarities complete the November 17 sale lineup. Chief among them is a 1943 poster titled Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, designed by David S. Martin (1913-1992) and estimated at $3,000-$5,000. Printed in Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Government Printing Office, the poster celebrates the bravery of Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919-1943), the first Black American to receive the Navy Cross. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Miller carried wounded sailors to safety before taking control of an antiaircraft gun. With no training, he skillfully operated the gun until it ran out of ammunition.
Rounding out the highlights is a souvenir program and official scorecard for the November 25, 1893 Harvard–Yale football game, estimated at $800-$1,200. It was printed in Springfield, Massachusetts by Charles H. Nicoll and is made from brown cloth in the shape of a football and bound with leather cord. The piece includes team rosters, photos, portraits, rules and early brewery advertisements.
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