Posted on 06/18/2004 7:48:47 PM PDT by nuconvert
Texas Documents Bring in $2.1 Million at Auction, Despite Withdrawal of Most Valuable Items
T.A. Badger/Associated Press
Jun 18, 2004
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A collection of historic Texas documents brought in a much-better-than-expected $2.1 million at auction Friday - even though four items were withdrawn at the last minute for fear they had been stolen. Three documents were removed Friday from the Texas Independence sale at Sotheby's in New York amid concerns they may have been stolen years ago from Texas state archives. A fourth had been removed Thursday for the same reason.
Among the withdrawn items was a copy of Col. William Barret Travis' 1836 letter pledging "victory or death" before the Alamo fell to the Mexican army. It had been expected to bring in between $250,000 and $350,000.
Another document - a two-page letter written in 1835 by Alamo defender Jim Bowie - had been expected to fetch between $30,000 and $40,000.
Without the four withdrawn items, Sotheby's had predicted sales would total $1.1 million to $1.5 million.
"It was fantastically successful," said Selby Kiffer, senior vice president in the department of books and manuscripts for Sotheby's.
As expected, the most expensive item was a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence signed March 2, 1836 - four days before the Battle of the Alamo. That document sold for $764,000 to an unnamed person who bid by phone, said Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia.
Questions about some of the items were raised after Tom Taylor, who helped Sotheby's with authentication, circulated a letter warning potential bidders that some of the lots may include property missing from the Texas State Library.
Over a decade, beginning in the mid-1960s, nearly 1,000 items went missing from the State Library and Archives. Many wound up in the hands of unwitting private collectors.
Oh, I think just one 'collector' took more items than that.
So9
It wasn't mentioned in the story (I'm sure it was just an oversight) - could you remind me which political party controlled Texas and all of the state institutions during that time period?
Did you actually buy this copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence? Wow!
>>As expected, the most expensive item was a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence signed March 2, 1836 - four days before the Battle of the Alamo. That document sold for $764,000 to an unnamed person who bid by phone, said Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia. <<
Yeah, but the lady had a little bit of trouble clearing it on my Chevron credit card.
Are you going to send a copy to Austin just to let them know how a Texans life is supposed to be?
I might let the governor see the original if he shuts off our border.
I hate to break your bubble, but while the State was controlled by Democrats, that's all there was in Texas politics then, the thief was a Republican.
So9
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