A Handsome Signed Document for a Lincoln Appointment, But with the Appointee's Name Quite Wrong

A DOCUMENT ON PAPER APPOINTING JAY HAZIEL SHERMAN CONSUL OF THE UNITED STATES TO PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, CANADA, SIGNED BY LINCOLN AS PRESIDENT, WITH WAX SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND CO-SIGNATURE OF SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM SEWARD.

(LINCOLN, ABRAHAM).

(Washington, D.C. U. S. Government, 17 July 1862). 445 x 565 mm. (17 3/4 x 22 1/2"). 17 lines of engraved text in copperplate script, with names and dates completed in a fine secretarial hand.

Loose, as issued, in an archival mylar sleeve. ◆Neatly mended two-and-three-quarters-inch tear to one edge (well away from text), half inch slit to end of one fold, three very short separations along two folds (only one touching text), otherwise A FINE FRESH, SPECIMEN, clean and bright, the signature dark and clear, the wax-and-white-paper seal intact.

This is an excellent example of a presidential document with Lincoln's full signature and with that of his Secretary of State, William Henry Seward (1801-72), remembered for negotiating the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The consul appointed in this document, Jay Haziel Sherman of Vermont, served in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from 1861 to 1865. It is likely this appointee was Jahaziel Blossom Sherman (1801-65), son of pioneering steamship captain Jahaziel Sherman (1770-1844), and that his unusual Old Testament name was misspelled by the scribe who filled in the appointment form. The younger Sherman died in Nova Scotia in 1865. (ST16605b)

Price: $12,500.00