William (1776) Harrison Paintings & Artwork for Sale | William (1776) Harrison Art Value Price Guide

Jun. 12, 2015
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841),President. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Harrison") TO SECRETARY OF WAR JOHN C. CALHOUN, Northbend [Ohio], 2 September 1822.1 1/2 pages, 4to, very minor losses at folds, discreetly silked, marked "Free" in an aide's hand on integral cover sheet addressed to "John C. Calhoun Esq. Secretary of War Washington City,"splits at folds without loss. [With:] Manuscript "Extract of a letter from Col Charles Todd to Genl Harrison," in an unidentified hand, n.p., n.d.,1 1/4 pages, 4to, silked.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Harrison") TO SECRETARY OF WAR JOHN C. CALHOUN, Northbend [Ohio], 2 September 1822. 1 1/2 pages, 4to, very minor losses at folds, discreetly silked, marked "Free" in an aide's hand on integral cover sheet addressed to "John C. Calhoun Esq. Secretary of War Washington City," splits at folds without loss. [With:] Manuscript "Extract of a letter from Col Charles Todd to Genl Harrison," in an unidentified hand, n.p., n.d., 1 1/4 pages, 4to, silked. HARRISON RECALLS THE DEATH OF CHIEF TECUMSEH AND THE BATTLE WHICH CLINCHED U.S. POSSESSION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY A letter of considerable interest. In 1822, Congress proposed that the Philadelphia mint coin commemorative medals to honor General Harrison and General Isaac Shelby, the two commanding officers in the historic Battle of the Thames (5 October 1813); General Harrison's ragtag army had resoundingly defeated a combined British and Indian force on Canadian soil, shattered chief Tecumseh's Indian confederacy and clinched U.S. possession of the Old Northwest territory. Shelby had asked that his medal show the death of Tecumseh, while Todd suggested that Harrison's medal might depict the cavalry charge, the surrender of the British, or the defense of Fort Meigs. Harrison here harks back to the battle and expresses characteristically strong opinions on the scene to be chosen for the medal: "...I think indeed I should have been first consulted for a choice of incidents in an action where the plan was all my own without having had the slightest suggestion from any other officer. However the incident chosen by [Kentucky] Gov. [Isaac] Shelby is I think a very proper one for his medal as Tecumseh was killed directly in front of that part of the line of Infantry which the Governor commanded. I adopt the suggestion of Col. Todd in relation to the charge on the British line by the Mounted Corps. My immediate position at the time the charge was made was on the right of the charging column. Immediately in our rear were a Regiment of Militia Infantry in line & a Detachment of U.S. Infantry in Column of Sections. I was attended by Genl Cap Comdr [Matthew G.] Perry, Colo. Butler, Ass't. Adj. Genl. Cap. Todd (the author of the letter)...If the suggestion of Colo. Todd as to the Defence of Fort Meiggs is admissible I would make but one alteration to his proposition & that is to make the Sortie on the Right flank the prominent part of the Scene & my own position Woods battery superintending that Sortie rather than on Cushings recalling Dudleys Command. Colo. Gratiot was an eye witness of all the incidents of this eventful Day & knows as well as any man how I was employed. If the other Medals should be presented before mine is ready I should be glad that the reason of the delay should be published..." The victory of the Thames secured the Northwest for the United States and catapulted Harrison to national fame. For a detailed account of the battle see D.R. Hickey, The War of 1812, 1990, pp. 136-139.
Christie's
Nov. 14, 2009
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1772-1891).
Est: $300 - $400
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1772-1891). DS, check signed to Mr. Clark for $30 June 23, 1827 (filled out in his hand as if signed). With lithograph silhouette portrait by Kelly after William H. Brown
Sloans & Kenyon
Jun. 14, 2006
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Harrison")
Est: $150,000 - $200,000
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Harrison") AS PRESIDENT, to Charles Macalester (1798-1873, of Gaw, Macalester & Company, bankers), Washington, 24 March 1841. 1 1/4 pages, 4to, integral address leaf with recipient's docket: "W.H. Harrison. Pres t. of the United States March 24, 1841 Received 25th." In exceptionally fine, fresh condition. A NEWLY DISCOVERED AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF HARRISON, IN SUPERB CONDITION, WRITTEN ELEVEN DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH IN OFFICE The unfortunate Harrison served the shortest term of any President, dying--of pneumonia contracted at the elaborate Inaugural ceremonies--on April 4, 1841, after a mere one month in office. The day of his Inauguration was chilly and blustery; after taking the oath of office the 68-year-old Harrison delivered what is still the longest inaugural address on record, a rambling speech that took an hour and 40 minutes to read. Harrison wore neither hat, coat, nor gloves. A bit later, a sudden shower drenched him. Predictably, Harrison fell ill and eventually took to his bed with what his doctor termed "bilious pleurisy." As his condition steadily declined, he signed fewer and fewer appointments and wrote virtually no letters. Finally, on 4 April he uttered his last words: "I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison remains the sole president to die in the White House, and his demise led to the first application of Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution, providing for the succession of the Vice-President. Here, obviously annoyed, and writing in a noticeably shaky hand, Harrison scrawls a letter concerning his troubled financial affairs. INDENT WHOLE LETTER "My dear Sir, There are other grounds upon which the Agents of the Bank of the U. S. if they had the right even to make the ruinous & unjust charge of double instead on my indorsement [sic] debt like those I inumerated [sic] in my former letter, viz. 1st No exertion whatever was used to obtain the debt of Thomson, Neal[?] the surviving partner. Every body behind that there was left by J.N. a considerable property either as his own or belonging to the firm knowing that I was solvent. The agent was satisfied when he fixed the responsibility upon me & escaped the trouble & risk of expense in searching for the means of payment from those from whom the debt was due. 2nd. Burnet Lindlay & Harrison paid a debt to the Bank of $60,000 in lands out of the sale of which it is believed the Bank made at least one Hundred from [illigible] out of the sales." "But at any rate my friend I will not pay the claim of Compound interest. All my friends here, men of the highest standing in Society, insist that I shall not do it. I had no hand in the app t. of M-- but to sanction it. Had I known that he was offended & another wanted the App t. who was struggling for eminence & of talents to fill the office properly he should have received it. Let me know when I may wish you joy. Yours truly W.H. Harrison." The recipient, Charles Macalester, was the son of a Philadelphia banker and ship-owner. The son spent some years in frontier Cincinnati, whence his connection with Harrison may have begun. He was named a director of the second Bank of the United States in 1834, 1835 and 1837. In 1835 he was a partner in the banking firm of Gaw, Macalester and Company. Highly successful in his land investments in the northeast and the Midwest, Macalester was an active philanthropist, supporting various educational and charitable institutions; he donated the land in Minneapolis on which Macalester College is situated. In the last quarter century a handful of Harrison presidential documents have been sold at auction: 8 documents (mostly appointments), one letter signed and no more than two autograph letters signed. This letter, PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN, constitutes ONE OF ONLY THREE EXTANT PRESIDENTIAL AUTOGRAPH LETTERS OF HARRISON. One letter, dated 10 March, complaining about office-seekers, was part of the Forbes Collection (sale, Christie's, 9 October 2002, lot 75, $273,500), as was another to his wife dated 4-5 March 1841, unfortunately with Harrison's signature clipped away (sale, Christie's, 15 November 2005, lot 58, $262,400). Provenance: Charles Macalester (1798-1873)--by descent to his great-great grandson, the present owner, resident in Spain.
Christie's
Oct. 30, 2005
Harrison, William Henry (1773-1841)
Est: $500 - $700
Autograph note signed, July 14th, 1795, one page, as aid de camp, at Headquarters, Greeneville, "the commissary will issue you two Frenchmen... from Fort Defiance with complete rations", framed with portrait, (central fold separation).
Skinner
Jun. 21, 2005
[HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President]. A book owned and annotated by him: MOLLIEN
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
[HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President]. A book owned and annotated by him: MOLLIEN, Gaspard Théodore, comte de (1796-1872). Travels in the Republic of Colombia, in the Years 1822 and 1823. London: Knight, 1824. 8 o (211 x 129 mm). Engraved frontispiece, folding engraved "Map of the Republic of Colombia, formed from the Viceroyalty of New Grenada and the Captainry General of Carracas, 1824." Contemporary half green morocco gilt, marbled edges (rubbed, a few margins shaved). Provenance: William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia, 1828-1829 (extensive pencil notes in margins); Dr. William R. Coleman (his sale Sotheby's New York, 12 December 2001, lot 234). EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY FUTURE PRESIDENT HARRISON. A copiously annotated volume from the library of a president not usually thought of as a careful, critical reader, Harrison's many annotations and several small drawings appear on some 45 pages, and total some 2000 words. His annotations are quite thoughtful, contrasting and comparing his own perceptions of Colombia, its people, and landscape to the author's. His notes are sometimes brief: on page two he notes "few negroes any part of country"; and in some cases quite substantial: on p.23 he recalls, "I met one negro who recounted the battles he had been in, including the taking of Teneriffe" On p. 131, Harrison describes the author: "Mr. Mollien whom I saw at Bogota and conversed with, was a bigot of Monarchism. All his notions reverted to that centre, and all things bent to its force, he could not reason on policies..." On p.185, Harrison has drawn a small map of Bogota, with town square, prison and palace marked; on p.203 he has drawn two figures in wide-brimmed hats, perhaps peasants. Harrison had been appointed Minister to Columbia by John Quincy Adams, after serving in the Senate. When Jackson became President, he was immediately recalled. BOOKS OWNED BY HARRISON ARE EXTREMELY RARE. Sabin 49917.
Christie's
Dec. 16, 2004
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Letter signed ("W. H. Harrison"), to John
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Letter signed ("W. H. Harrison"), to John Taylor, Cornelius Hansen, Millard Fillmore, and John Jay, Cincinnati, 20 February 1836. 3 pages, 4to. HARRISON'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE TO THE WHIG PARTY NOMINATING CONVENTION IN NEW YORK A very rare example of a 19th-century Presidential candidate's letter of acceptance to his party. Before there were televised conventions, banks of cameras a teleprompter, candidates for the nation's highest office signaled their acceptance with ceremonial letters like this one, which Harrison penned to the leaders of the Whig Party conclave in New York. The medium was different, but the purpose was similar to today's convention addresses. The nominee's positive attributes are asserted with due modesty; the contrast with the lamentable qualities of the opponent made abundantly clear. It's interesting to see Harrison trying to wrap himself in the mantle of the first soldier-president, George Washington, and to decry the poisonous influence of faction. He promises to "carry into the chair of the Chief Magistracy a mind uninfluenced by the passions and the prejudices which the heat and violence of the late contests have unfortunately produced." From his tranquil retirement, Harrison "could not fail to remark that the spirit of party was daily increasing; that it had reached a degree much beyond that which had been considered wholesome and sanative for free Governments, and that from its rapid progress and increasing violence, it was approximating the point where nothing would be considered right which had a tending to arrest its march." The Whigs made the unconventional choice in 1836 of running three candidates, normally a recipe for disaster. But given America's Electoral College system, there was something to be said for it: by running regional favorite sons in the South and New England along with Harrison, the Whig leaders hoped to siphon off enough Democratic votes to deny Van Buren an Electoral College majority, thus throwing the contest into the House of Representatives, where the anti-Jackson men thought they stood a better chance. Harrison certainly would have lost even if all of Daniel Webster's and Hugh Lawson's White's votes had gone to him instead. As it happened, the strategy failed. White carried Tennessee and Georgia, and Webster won Massachusetts. But Van Buren bested Harrison everywhere except for Vermont, a few middle states and part of the Ohio Valley. Harrison's run, however, paved the way for his successful re-match against Van Buren in 1840.
Christie's
Nov. 21, 2004
Harrison, William Henry (1773-1841)
Est: $350 - $450
Autograph document signed, January 19th, 1794, one page, as Lieutenant, issuing a pass for a discharged soldier, 5 by 7 3/4 in.
Skinner
Oct. 28, 2004
Harrison, William Henry (1773-1841)
Est: $600 - $800
Autograph Document Signed, August 22nd, (17) 94, one page, provision return for whiskey for the barge crew for two days, (good).
Skinner
May. 20, 2004
Receipt Signed by W.H. Harrison, Harrison, William Henry (1773-1841), President, as aide de camp. MsS, 1p, approx. 4.5 x 7.75", Greeneville, 27 Aug.
Est: $600 - $800
Receipt Signed by W.H. Harrison, Harrison, William Henry (1773-1841), President, as aide de camp. MsS, 1p, approx. 4.5 x 7.75", Greeneville, 27 Aug. 1795. Provision Return for one man Returnd. from Captivity for two days.... Harrison enlisted in 1791, becoming "Mad Anthony" Wayne's aide de camp in the battles against the Indians in the Northwest Territory. Light even toning, minor foxing. Slight ink shadow from column of numbers on verso.
Cowan's Auctions
Oct. 09, 2002
HARRISON, William Henry (1773-1841), President. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Harrison") to William Corwin, North Bend, Ohio, 18 December 1839. 31/4 pages, folio (12 3/8 x 7 5/8 in.), recipient's docket. In very fine condition.
Est: $16,000 - $20,000
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SPELLS OUT HIS POSITION ON "THE VEXED QUESTION" OF SLAVERY AND ITS EXPANSION A lengthy private letter of outstanding political content, written only a week after Harrison won the Whig Party nomination for President. To a supporter, Harrison, goes to elaborate lengths to justify actions from his past which might be interpreted as favoring the southern, pro-slavery political bloc. Harrison even reveals that he has been, since his young adulthood, a pledged member of an Emancipation society. He assures Corwin that "I am...all awake to the subject to which your letter...refer[s]," and adds that although he had been ready to "dispatch to Gov r. Owen of N.C. my answer to the committee communicating my nomination," Corwin's communique has suggested the propriety of sticking into it some general principles...." Harrison proceeds to give a lengthy account of his personal history in relation to the "vexed question" of slavery. It is worth noting that Clay had failed to win the 1832 election partly due to his reputation as a slave-owner, which fatally antagonized many anti-slavery voters; Harrison, the present letter clearly demonstrates, intended to please both sides, if at all possible: "I will give you the facts in my political life which may make me an Abolitionist with one party & an Anti[a]bolitionist with the other...." When I was a youth of 17, studying Medicine in Richmond, I joined an Emancipating Society that was formed there & came under a solemn engagement not to hold a Slave longer than I could provide for his emancipation. This promise I have faithfully kept. I have bo[ugh]t as many as 7 or 8 & freed them simply on their promise to remain with me for some years. The greater part fulfilled their engagements but several left me immediately. After the war (1814) I settled in this place. I found the people on both sides of the [Ohio] river under great excitement in relation to fugitive slaves. A society was formed at Cincinnati to protect them." Harrison describes attempts to mediate between the pro-slavery (Kentucky) and abolitionist (Ohio) factions: "My utmost efforts were used to prevent the effects of their violence & injustice." On one occasion, he relates, "These had produced so much corresponding violence in the Citizens of K[entuck]y that an armed party crossed the river on one occasion to take justice in their own hands & as a comp y. of militia was called out...to resist them there would certainly have been bloodshed if I had not gone in pursuit of the Kentuckians & induced them to return [to Kentucky]..." His success in dissuading them, he writes, was due to "their leader being one of my old Captains and many of the men my former Soldiers. I take to myself some credit for having allayed in great measure the hard feelings which existed between the two sides of the River..." Harrison then turns to his service in Congress (1816-1819), in the Ohio legislature (1819-1821) and the Senate (1825-1828): "You know the part I took on the Missouri question in the last session of the 15th Congress, voting against all my colleagues [those who voted against the expansion of slavery], who entreated me not to abandon them." Later, a representative from Indiana told him "that I would 'ruin myself by my southern feelings.' My answer was that it was not feeling that dictated my course but the obligations of duty & the oath I had taken." His votes in support of the southern faction on the admission of Missouri and the territorial status of Arkansas, though, were used against him by an opponent, Gazley of Cincinnati, in the 1822 Congressional race: "A caricature [of Harrison] leading a Negro in chains was circulated. I defended myself in addresses & on the stump -- upon the Missouri part of the question upon constitutional grounds, And upon that of Arkansas by the necessity of allowing an outlet to the population of the Southern states in the country which had been purchased out of the general funds [tax revenues]..." Harrison recalls that he lost the election by a sizeable margin, largely as a result of this position. A recently circulated "Abolition Almanac," he adds, is highly critical of his slavery record, and unfairly asserts that during his tenure as governor of the Indiana Territory, he had "endeavored to get Slavery introduced there." Harrison refutes "this vile charge": "Some time after the Territory went into operation the people became restless & dissatisfied because they got little or no accession of population. The emigrants from the free States stopped in Ohio & those from the Southern in K[entuck]y. While many indeed were passing through Indiana with their slaves to settle in the Spanish Territory beyond the Mississippi. An idea was propagated that these emigrants might be arrested & settle in Indiana if the provisions of the Ordinances [particularly the Northwest Ordinance of 1787] against Slavery could be, not repealed, but suspended for a short period..." In the end, "for these very reasons & from my belief too that the Emancipation of the Negroes who were brought in [into the territory] would be easily effected I gave my reluctant consent to it." Eventually, when the plan to suspend the Ordinance "was rejected by Congress, everybody rejoiced...." Harrison adds a few additional facts relating to his stint as Territorial Governor and concludes with the observation that "This letter is not intended [to be] show[n] to anyone but to put you in possession of the facts which you can no doubt use to advance the cause..." Despite his concern over the issue of slavery, the most central issue of the 1839 election was the economy, as a result of the Panic of 1837.
Christie's