New York, December 05: A letter by George Washington fetched over $3.2 million at a New York City auction, setting a world record price for a letter by America’s first president.
Washington’s 1787 letter to a nephew argues for the ratification of the newly drafted Constitution. The buyer at Christie’s auction Friday was not identified.
The previous record for a Washington letter sold for $834,500 in 2002.
Earlier, a handwritten poem by Edgar Allan Poe titled “For Annie,” sold for $830,500, a world record for a 19th century literary manuscript. The poem was estimated to sell for between $50,000 to $70,000. Also by Poe, a rare first edition of his first book “Tamerlane and Other Poems” sold for $662,500, the highest price paid for a 19th century book of poetry.
And a 1958 Olivetti typewriter used by author Cormac McCarthy went to a bidder for $254,500, well over its estimate of $15,00 to $20,000.
–Agencies