BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and JAMES TRIMBLE As President of Pennsylvania (1786), the Founding Father of the United States signed this pay warrant for the Council door keeper Manuscript DS: "B Franklin Presdt." as President of Pennsylvania and "James Trimble", 1 page, 7½x4¾. Pay Warrant for Frederick Sneider "For his attendance as Door keeper to Council from the first until the twenty eighth day of February 1786 - 28 days - at 10pr - £ 14..0..0" All in the hand of Trimble who has signed next to the word "Examined". Autograph Docket signed: "J. Trimble" on verso. In full: "Frederick Sneiders/accounts/Read in Council/Febry 28th 1786/approved and an order/drawn". During the American Revolution, FREDERICK SNEIDER was in the Sixth Company of the 2nd Battalion Pennsylvania Militia. When Timothy Matlack (engrosser of the Declaration of Independence) became Secretary of the Commonwealth on March 6, 1777, JAMES TRIMBLE was appointed Deputy Secretary, or Assistant Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council. Alexander J. read more...

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMPANY THAT LIT UP HOMES, HOTELS, STORES, AND SHIPS ACROSS THE NATION IN THE EARLY 1880s   THOMAS A. EDISON and OTHERS. Typed DS: "Edwd. H. Johnson" as President and "Edwd. H. Johnson", "Thomas A Edison", "F.S. Hastings" and three others as Trustees, 1p, 8x12. New York, N.Y., 1886 January 1. Headed: "ANNUAL REPORT of the EDISON COMPANY FOR ISOLATED LIGHTING". In full: "The amount of the Capital Stock of the Company is $1,000,000. The amount of Capital Stock actually paid in is 752,700. Of which amount Three Hundred and eighty-two Thousand five Hundred Dollars has been issued in payment for property necessary for the business of the Company, purchased by the Trustees. The remaining Three hundred and seventy thousand two hundred dollars has been pad in cash. The indebtedness of the Company is $127,373.56." Edison Company for Isolated Lighting originated as the Bureau of Isolated Lighting of the Edison Electric Light Company. It began operating as a separate company in November 1881. The company sold small generating plants for the lighting of individual homes, hotels, stores, mills, plants, factories, ships, and businesses. read more...

GATLING TELLS COLT PATENT FIRE ARMS THAT THE STATE OF NEW YORK "HAS SENT TWO GATLING GUNS HERE FOR REPAIRS"   RICHARD J. GATLING. TLS: "R.J. Gatling", 1p, 8½x11½. Hartford, Conn., 1885 April 14. As President, on stationery of The Gatling Gun Company. To Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, Hartford. In full: "The Chief of Ordnance, State of New York, advises us that he has sent two Gatling Guns here for repairs, and that if anything is needed in the way of appendages or spare parts, that he be furnished with a list of the same, before he gives the order for them. As soon as the guns are received, please put them in good working order, and furnish us with a list of the articles required as above." Exactly 20 years before this letter was written, John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln with a Derringer pistol. Twelve days later, U.S. Cavalry Sgt. Boston Corbett shot Booth with a Colt revolver. By the 1850s, Richard J. Gatling (1818-1903) had become wealthy from agricultural inventions such as machines for sowing rice and wheat. read more...

JOHN HANCOCK Notes relating to payment. ANS: "Jo Hancock" at lower left of ADS: "Wm Winthrop", 1p, 7¼x3¾. Boston, 1772 June 7. Winthrop pens, in full: "Reced of Mr Joseph Ashley. Six pounds. Eight Shillings &4d by the Hand of Mr William Billings, to be indors'd on his Note or Bond, due to John Hancock Esq. for him." Hancock has crossed out the amount and written in full: "This Rec(eip)t not/yet Settled". Docketed on verso (unknown hand). John Hancock served as a member of the Massachusetts provincial legislature from 1766-1772. He was President of the Provincial Congress in 1774. A member of the Continental Congress (1775-1778), Hancock was President of Congress from 1775-1777 and was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Light show through at right margin from docket on verso. ½-inch separation at blank mid-horizontal fold, pinhead-size hole at cross folds touches 1 letter. Irregular bottom edge, nicked at top and right edges. Folds do not touch signature. Overall, fine condition. read more...

JOHN HANCOCK Hancock handwrote, dated and put his John Hancock on this letter to the "Gentlemen of the Senate & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives" in 1783, while he was Governor of Massachusetts. He wrote this letter to inform the recipients that he had received an "Application for Sundry Articles for the use of the Tribe" from the Penobscot, which offered their services to the colonies during the American Revolutionary War. This letter was written less than eight months before the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war between the colonies and England. Draft autograph letter signed "J.H." as Governor of Massachusetts. 1 page, 7¾x6¼. Council Chamber, Boston, Massachusetts, Feb. 7, 1783. Addressed to the "Gentlemen of the Senate & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives". In full: "I have this moment Rec'd a Letter from Colonel Lithgow, by Two Indians of the Penobscot Tribe, these Indians are come to make Application for Sundry Articles for the use of the Tribe. The Letter with the Commissions given one of these Indians by Brigr. Genl. Lovell, I have directed the Secretary [to] lay before you. read more...

JOHN HANCOCK and JOHN AVERY, JR. As Massachusetts Governor and Secretary of State, both sign a manuscript document appointing Superior Court Justice David Sewall to the Commonwealth's Supreme Court (1781). Ornate Manuscript DS: "John Hancock" as Governor of Massachusetts, 1 page, 21¾x13. On vellum. Boston, 1781 February 20. Countersigned: "John Avery Secy". Appointment of David Sewall as Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. On verso, appears a short Manuscript DS: "John Hancock". In full: "In Council February 20th 1781. Hnble David Sewall Esqr appeared at the Council Chamber Subscribed the Declaration and the Several Oaths prescribed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth to qualify himself for the Office within mentioned." Born in York, Maine, SEWALL (1735-1825), Councillor for the Province of Maine (1766-1777), was Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts (1777-1781) when he received this appointment to the State's Supreme Judicial Court. He served until 1789 when he was appointed Judge of the U.S. District Court of Maine (1789-1817). read more...

WALT DISNEY The business pioneer has inscribed and signed this printed illustration of Goofy. It's framed with an unsigned photo of Disney surrounded by many of his beloved animated characters Printed Illustration Inscribed and Signed: "To/ Ann/ Sincerely -/ Walt Disney". B/w, 7¼x9¼. Image of two cartoon drawings, one full-size and one of the head of "Goofy". Goofy, who became the symbol of "Everyman" in Disney cartoons, first appeared over six decades ago in "Mickey's Revue" (1932). Then a bit player, he was named Dippy Dawg until he got his "official" name for his goofy work in "Orphan's Benefit" (1934). Goofy became a star in the 1935 cartoon, "Moving Day", and his popularity resulted in his own line of Disney merchandise. Teamed with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in a number of cartoons, Goofy had his first starring role in 1939's "Goofy and Wilbur". Goofy later went on to appear in his own series of comic books (1953). read more...

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE His signed, handwritten letter to telegraphic expert Robert Sabine (1868), insisting that he be given journal space to refute "Hamel's calumnious paper read before the Society of Arts". ALS: "Saml F.B. Morse, 3 pages, 5x8. Po'keepsie, N.York, 1868 August 8. The inventor of the Morse Code who established a telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in 1844 writes to Robert Sabine, Westminster, London. In full: "I began a letter to you on the 18th July in reply to your valuable letter of the 18th of June. I have had so many interruptions since my return that I must defer its completion, until I have finished by Report as Commissioner for my Government. I write now simply to acknowledge your kindness and to thank you for your courtesy, and to promise you at no very distant day the finished letter on Hamel's calumnious paper read before the Society of Arts. The part in which he refers to me, requires a thorough exposure. I do not ask to have it published entire, but I do ask that it be read to the Society, and that it be recorded in their proceedings, with such remarks of their own as their sense of justice may prompt after a proper examination of the case read more...

AL WORDEN Spanish flag (6¼x4), flown to the moon on Apollo 15, signed on the yellow stripe by Command Module Pilot Worden, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, also signed by Worden Flag signed: "Flown to the Moon on Apollo 15 - Al Worden CMP", 6¼x4 red, yellow and black Spanish flag, signed on the center yellow stripe. Accompanied by Typed Letter signed: "Al Worden", 1 page, 8½x11, Certificate of authenticity dated June 18, 2010 on Apollo 15 letterhead. In full: "I hereby certify that this flag from Spain (1945-1977) included with this letter went to the moon aboard Apollo 15 in the spacecraft 'Endeavor'. It remained in the command module during the lunar orbit phase of the flight. Apollo 15 was the fourth lunar landing mission, carrying for the first time a lunar rover and a Scientific Instrument Bay in the Service Module. The flight was launched on July 26 and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on August 7, 1971, logging flight time of 295.2 hours and a distance of over 1.4 million miles. Dave Scott and Jim Irwin explored the region of Hadley Rille for three days while I conducted scientific experiments in orbit. read more...