A $500,000 Fragment

Part of Lincoln's pivotal house divided speech will be auctioned

Abraham Lincoln holographs appearing on the auction block these days are likely to be routine memos from the 16th President -- a postmaster's appointment or some such. Much rarer is a Lincoln paper in his own hand on a key political issue. Sotheby's in New York City announced that in December it will auction off just such a document -- a draft of the pivotal "house divided" speech of 1858. A portion of the text is inscribed across a 12-in. by 7-in. sheet of paper that had been hanging on a wall in the home of a descendant of a Lincoln...

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