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This year marks the 9th year that The Rail Splitter organization will publish its quarterly journal of the same name and host its national auction http://www.railsplitter.com/auction.htm. But longevity isn't what will mark this year as memorable for publisher Jonathan Mann. This is the year that a record number of Lincoln-related items and books are being sold on Sept. 16. The date, originally set for earlier in the month, was pushed back because The Today Show on NBC wanted to feature the auction's highlight - a large lock of the president's hair taken from the body by Col. Frederick Townsend. The segment will air the morning of Sept. 4.
Another event regarding this auction will forever be burned in Mann's memory: the USPS lost $20,000 worth of catalogs being mailed to collectors and members. This left the organization scrambling to recover by sending out a new set and publishing the catalog online at their Web site http://www.railsplitter.com.
Of use to some of our Lincoln buffs on Bookologist is a wonderful section of reference books.
According to Mann, "What distinguishes this sale from those mounted by professional auction houses is the collector/hobby orientation of the organizers. The principals are collectors of Lincolniana of long-standing.
They are steeped in the history of the items they offer. They know condition, proper descriptive terminology, value, authenticity, provenance, factors related to attribution and dating, rarity, and the subtle, occult factors that contribute to collector appeal."
This group is widespread, hailing from across the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.
For those of you who have items and books that are leaving you puzzled, you'll be glad to note that the organization will help others with appraisals and evaluations, identification and research, and will help sell items. For those who prefer to do their own legwork, their quarterly publication THE RAIL SPLITTER is available for $24 per year, $40 for two. Auction Catalogs go for $18, $12 for members. New subscribers can get one year plus a catalog for $34.
Mann cites that "the focus of the "Rail Splitter" journal has always been about the objects that people collect." Issues related to value and authenticity are consistent themes of the publication. The journal and the annual auction serve the dual purpose of helping collectors preserve American history and publishing accounts of primary source material that constitute "discoveries" shedding new light on the written and visual record. The items that collectors gather provide the source material that historians research, yet history is not static. It needs constant revision and updating as new material surfaces. Each object is a piece in a jigsaw puzzle which, when examined in context with similar original materials, often tells a compelling story.
For more information, please visit their Web site:
http://www.railsplitter.com
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