Political Autographs and Memorabilia Gift Ideas

Austin posts bond for his brother-in-law Moses Bates with Sheriff (later US Senator) Henry Dodge Manuscript Document signed: "Moses Bates", "Moses Austin", 1 page, 7½x12½. Each has hand-drawn his seal to the right of his signature. Ste Genevieve, Missouri, 1812 April 5. Docketed on verso. In full: "Know all Men by these present that we Moses Bates and Moses Austin are held and formerly bound to H. Dodge Sheriff of the District of St. Genevieve in the kind sum of Eight hundred and forty Dollars lawful money of the United States to be paid to the said Dodge or his successor..The condition of the above obligation is such that a capias ad respondendum has Issued from the Court of Common Pleas for the District cop[ie]d at the suit of William C. Carr and Henry Elliott administrator of Earon Elliott deceased on which said suit bail is required for the sum of four hundred and Twenty Dollars and the said Dodge has arrested the said Moses Bates in his capacity as sheriff of the said Bates should be cast in the said suit he will pay the cost and condemnation money or surrender his body in execution for the same or that the said Moses Austin his bail will do it for him as witness our hands and seals this day and date as above written.…"

The former outlaw assigns all rights, including the Dalton name, to his stepdaughter. TLS: "Emmett Dalton", 1p, 6x8. Hollywood, California, 1936 March 9. To his stepdaughter Jennie Gilstrap Perrier, Skiatcok, Oklahoma. In full: "I hope this finds you well and happy. My shoulder is getting worse. Your mother Julia and I borrowed from your oil money when you were young to make my first picture, and also to pay Double Day to print the book When The Daltons Rode. We have never repaid you. I am making assignment of all my rights, title, and interest including the Dalton name, to your mother Julia. This I am giving to you for the money I owe you, upon her passing, and any interest in my brother Frank Dalton's name that I used in the motion picture. There are no other Dalton heirs, and all in perpetuum rights are yours." 2 file holes at upper blank margin. Lightly soiled, light stains at right margin. Overall, fine condition. Accompanied by an unsigned Marriage License and Certificate of Marriage for Emmett Dalton and Julia A. Lewis, 1p, 8½ x 14. Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1908 September 1. 2 file holes at upper margin. Lightly soiled, else fine condition. With Final Decree from the state of Oklahoma signed by the Judge of the County Court, 1p, 8½ x 14.

Handwritten letter, signed in text as "General Custer" (even though he had reverted to his pre-war rank), written in the Dakota Territory two years before his death at the Little Big Horn. Letter includes Custer's stab at poetry. Third Person Autograph Letter, 1 page, 7¾x6¼. Fort Lincoln, D.T. [Dakota Territory], 1874 June 5th. Unknown addressee. In full: "Gen Custers compliments his regrets likewise, in response to your kind invitation. His absence should never create surprise except from his own habitation. This being written his duty might end. With no fear of being called Alfred Tennyson. He simply desires, however to send you, the accompanying leg of venison." George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) graduated last in his class at West Point in 1858, but promptly redeemed himself through his brave and aggressive cavalry leadership during the Civil War. Earning the confidence of cavalry commanders Pleasanton and Sheridan, he rose swiftly to the rank of brevet major general by war's end. Custer had taken command of the 5th Michigan Cavalry shortly before Gettysburg and led it into battle repeatedly. Custer left military service briefly after the Civil War, dabbling in business and politics, but by 1867 he was back in uniform, battling Plains Indians.

Rare, signed, sepia-toned photograph of Annie Oakley holding a double-barreled shotgun in a gloved hand. Materials signed by Oakley are extremely rare and desirable! Photograph mount signed "Annie. Oakley.". B/w sepia-toned, 3¾x5½ photo mounted on a 4¼x6½ card with rounded edges. Cabinet card photograph by Baker's Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Oakley (1860-1926, born Phoebe Anne Moses in Darke County, Ohio), was born to a Quaker family and began to shoot rabbits and quail at age nine. Within five years, she was a breadwinner for her family as a markswoman, and, at age 15, she saved her family's farm with income she had earned from shooting game. On August 23, 1876, at age 16, Annie married Frank Butler, a vaudeville performer who became her partner. Annie's self-effacing personality (on and off stage) made her a popular performer. In 1885, the Butlers joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where Annie was a star for 17 years. The five-foot-tall Oakley got her name "Little Sure Shot" from Sitting Bull and used it in her promotional materials. In 1901, she and her husband decided to retire from public life. However, shooting was in her blood, and the Butlers continued to make appearances around the country.

The Welsh explorer who traversed much of Africa and government official signed this page Document Signed: "Henry M. Stanley", 1 page, 7½x9½. Parliament, July 15, 1897. "Post Office of the United Kingdom/Acknowledgment of Receipt" in English and French. Stanley has written the name and address of the sender of a "Registered Article" mailed to him on July 1, 1897: "William J Dorset/722 4th St. Milwaukee, Wisconsin/USA". Sir Henry M. Stanley (1841-1904, born as John Rowlands) was 17 when he came to the United States in 1858 and was adopted by a New Orleans merchant named Henry M. Stanley, who gave him his own name. In 1865, the 24-year-old Stanley became a newspaper correspondent and traveled to Asia Minor, Ethiopia, Crete, and Spain. James Gordon Bennett, publisher of the New York Herald, commissioned him to lead an expedition into central Africa to find missionary David Livingstone. In November 1871, Stanley "found" him, greeting him with the famous remark: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" From 1874 on, Stanley led various exploring expeditions into Africa. He discovered Lake Edward, circumnavigated Lake Victoria, traced the southern sources of the Nile River, surveyed Lake Tanganyika, and opened up the Congo region.

Robert Peary, the first man to reach the North Pole, signed this U. S. Navy paycheck receipt in 1903, while still a Navy civil engineer. His son Robert Peary, Jr. was born the year he signed this receipt. Receipt signed "R.L. Peary". Black ink notations in unknown hand and blue ink date stamp. 8x2¾. Oct. 15, 1903. Paycheck receipt for $145.73 by U. S. Navy Paymaster S. L. Heap. Peary's position is listed as "Civil Engr.". Peary's son Robert Peary, Jr. (1903-1994) was born the year he signed this check. 1903 saw at least two attempts to reach the North Pole, neither of them by Peary: one by the Russian ship Zarya (1900-1903) and the Ziegler Polar Expedition, funded by William Ziegler and led by Anthony Fiala. However, Peary had wrapped up his scouting of routes to the North Pole from Etah in Inglefield Land, Greenland the year before. Peary (1856-1920) became a Civil Engineer in the U. S. Navy in 1881, and in that capacity explored Greenland in 1886 on the first of his seven polar expeditions. On July 17, 1908, after three unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, he set out on another polar expedition. On April 6, 1909, he and a small party, including his assistant, Matthew Henson, and four Inuit, became the first to reach the North Pole. Although another American, Frederick A.

Partly Printed DS: "J.C. Frémont" on verso, 1p, 7½x4½. Philadelphia, 1868 March 2. Bond No. 33, issued by the "Southern Trans-Continental Railroad./Texas Division-From Jefferson to El Paso." Construction Series 'A.' 14th Section of 20 Miles. In part: "The Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad Company Hereby acknowledges itself indebted to John C. Fremont, in the sum of One Thousand Dollars, payable on the surrender hereof, by the transfer of Fifty Acres of Agricultural Land, to his order, to be located by the holder after the completion of the above mentioned section of Rail Road, upon any of the Eight Million Acres donated by the State of Texas to the Company, and open to entry, or at the holder's option, by One of the Thousand Dollar Bonds that may be granted to the Company by the United States in aid of the construction of its Rail Road from Jefferson to El Paso, and issued on account of the Section above designated...." Also signed by two members of the railroad's Executive Committee. After the Civil War, the Texas legislature granted Frémont land in the interest of the Memphis and El Paso Railway, which was to be part of a proposed transcontinental road from Norfolk to San Diego and San Francisco.

A signature from the man who delivered the first air mail on a commemorative envelope honoring the Twentieth Anniversary of the First Air Mail flight Commemorative cover signed: "Earle Ovington", in blue ink, 6½x3¾. A commemorative envelope honoring the Twentieth Anniversary of the First Air Mail flight. Two 2¢ U.S. stamps and one 1¢ U.S. stamp. EARLE OVINGTON (1879-1936), an aeronautical engineer and early barnstorming pilot, carried the first mail (640 letters and 1,280 postcards) by air. After a journey of 5½ miles above Long Island on September 23, 1911, Ovington dropped the mailbag from a height of 500 feet. Corners worn and creased, esp. top right and bottom right corner. Edges slightly worn. Ink stamps. Slightly toned. Slightly soiled around edges. Otherwise, fine condition.

. Postcard Photograph signed: "[owl pictograph]/Mrs Wades in water" in pencil on verso. B/w, 3¼x5¼. Lightly soiled. Framed to an overall size of 8½x12¾. Display easel included.

The legendary Black Bart. Extremely rare! Signature: "Charles E. Boles", 2x½. During the siege of Vicksburg, May 18-July 4, 1863, Charles E. Boles was promoted to First Sergeant. He was with General Sherman's army, and on May 26, 1864, he received a severe wound in the right abdomen. Boles returned to his unit in August and continued the "March to the Sea" with Sherman. After the war, in 1867, Boles went to the silver mines of Idaho and Montana then, in 1871, to the gold fields of California. On July 26, 1875, the Sonora to Milton stage in Calaveras County, California was robbed by a man wearing a flour sack over his head with two holes cut out for the eyes. He carried a double-barreled shotgun and wore a long linen duster and sacks on his boots as well. His voice was deep and resonant and the only thing he said was: "Please throw down the box!" He was polite and used no foul language. These became his trademarks. Boles, like many others, read "Dime Novel" style serial adventure stories that ran in the newspapers. In the 1870s, the "Sacramento Union" ran a serial called The Case of Summerfield. The story's villain, Bartholomew Graham, had unruly black hair, a large black beard and wild gray eyes and dressed in black. Called "Black Bart", he was wanted for crimes including robbing Wells Fargo stages.

The famed lawman, one of Oklahoma's "Three Guardsmen," reports to the Court his failure to find a fugitive. Accompanied by the subpoena he had attempted to serve, signed by Circuit Court Judge Ralph E. Campbell. Partly Printed Document signed: "C. Madsen", 4 pages (front and verso), 8¼x14. Western District of Oklahoma, 1909 June 29. Document titled "United States Marshal's Return, issued by the US Circuit Court of Western Oklahoma, pursuant to a Court degree of May 9, 1909. Madsen attests that he has made diligent search for Defendant R. Barton, but was unable to find him, or any member of the family upon whom the subpoena could be served. Includes attached copy of the court order, intended for delivery to Barton, ordering him to appear before the court, signed by Circuit Court Judge Ralph E. Campbell". CHRIS MADSEN (1851-1944), born in Denmark, moved to the US in 1876, enlisting in the 5th US Cavalry and fighting in the frontier wars. In 1883, he was President Arthur's personal guide in Yellowstone National Park. After leaving the army in1891, Madsen became a deputy marshal in the Oklahoma Territory, one of the famed "Three Guardsmen" (with Bill Tilghman and Heck Thomas) responsible for capturing or killing over 300 outlaws.

Combination of the American detective who pursued Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy, featuring his signed autograph letter and its original signed mailing envelope--dated 8 days before his death! Two items. Combination: 1) Autograph letter signed: "Chas. A. Siringo" in pencil, 5p, 7¾x10. Altadena, California, 1928 October 10. To Hawks. In full: "Your welcome letter of 9/28-28 - to hand. Glad you have not forgotten me. I have fixed up a 'Den' at my Sons (Lee Roy Siringo) home in Altadena - the town of High brows and Millionaires. It lays just north of Pasadena, at the foot of Mount Lowe. This does away with me paying rent. During the months of June, July and August, I had apartments at the Colehurst, Corner Santa Monica Blvd. and Vine Street, in the new building built by the Cole Estate. It is the finest aranged (sic) Apartment House I ever Saw. It has every Convenience. A man and wife cleans (sic) the two rooms every morning, and changes (sic) the linen, etc. There are four floors above the Drugstore, Café, News Stand and barber Shop, with a Self-regulating Elivator (sic). I would advise you to get quarters there next winter at a cost of $5500 a month. Your wife wouldn't have to turn her hands over, except to get meals.…"

Signed postcard showing the chief of the Piegan Blackfeet in Montana. Postcard Photograph signed: "Two Guns White Calf" in pictograph. B/w, 3½x5½. Two Guns White Calf (1872-1934) became a fixture at Glacier National Park, where he posed with tourists. His profile was one of three native Americans to inspire the composite image designed by James Earl Fraser for the Indian head nickel. Two Guns White Calf was also a publicity spokesman for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Minor surface scratches. Otherwise, fine condition.

Signature of the man who found and named the source of the Mississippi and exhaustively studied native-American cultures. Signature: "Henry R. Schoolcraft", 3¼x1½ clipped signature. Henry R. Schoolcraft (1793-1864) began his explorations as a geographer, traveling widely in various sections of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1832, he discovered and named the true source of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca, Minnesota. Schoolcraft's writings about the legends and folkways of the Ojibwe Indians, derived from his wife, one-half Ojibwe, were a vital source for Longfellow's epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha (1855). Schoolcraft devoted the latter years of his life to documenting native American folkways. With a grant from the US Congress, he produced a 6-volume historical and statistical study of the Indian tribes of the United States. (This detailed but poorly organized study became much more useful to scholars after it was indexed in 1954.) Irregular edges. Vertical fold at "S" of signature. Light ¼-inch stain above signature. Otherwise, fine condition.