08 September 2023 , 13:48
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Tickets to the theatre performance where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated are set to go up for auction.
The historic tickets, which are expected to fetch £80,000, are for front-row balcony seats at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, the night he was killed.
The 16th president of the US was 56 years old when he was shot in the head by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin.
RR Auction, a Boston-based auction site, describe the tickets as having a circular, April 14th-dated stamp which is an exact match to the stamps seen on tickets which are known to be authentic, such as the one seen in a collection of Harvard University’s Houghton Library.
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Front-row balcony tickets for Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, the night President Abraham Lincoln was shot (RR Auction / SWNS)"This pair of front row Ford's Theatre tickets, which were facing Lincoln's box, allowed the original theatre-goers to witness America's most tragic performance,” says Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.
"We know of only one other used April 14, 1865 ticket bearing a seat assignment that exists, making these two from the Forbes Collection extremely valuable," he adds.
RR Auction also has a letter signed by Martin Luther King Jr. estimated to go for over $25,000 on its site, as well as a handwritten letter by Charles Dickens expected to be auctioned off for over $35,000.
The rare and sought-after tickets for auction before belonged to The Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents and were sold at British auction house Christie’s in October 2002.
The rare tickets are for Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865 (RR Auction / SWNS)President Lincoln, whose legacy boasts the abolishment of slavery, was the first US president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by a three-week period of national mourning.
On the fateful night, Booth, armed with a small, easily concealable handgun, fired a single shot at point-blank range, after using his actor connections to gain access to the president’s box. He then escaped by running down onto the stage and into the night.
After a twelve-day manhunt, Federal troops tracked Booth down to a farm in Maryland. One soldier shot him in the back of the head and he was pronounced dead two hours later.
An illustration, showing the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln (Popperfoto/Getty Images)Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, Booth had actually plotted to assassinate three more top officials in Lincoln’s administration, including Vice President Andrew Johnson, the same night. Booth’s plan was part of the larger conspiracy to eliminate the most important officials of the federal government.
Booth had been fighting the Confederate cause in the Civil War, wishing to protect slavery and gain Southern independence from the Northern states. The Confederate army surrendered in April 1965, ending the civil war which had claimed the lives of 620,000 Americans. President Lincoln was assassinated shortly after.