Find of a lifetime

BLOOMINGTON - A man may be in line for a $50,000 payday after heopened a box he got for free at an estate sale and discovered threelegal documents signed by Abraham Lincoln.

Bloomington Auction Gallery auction manager Jason Penny said oneof the Lincoln documents could fetch $12,000 to $20,000 when it'ssold at an auction that begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday. For comparison,another legal document signed by Lincoln brought $15,000 at a recentSpringfield auction, Penny said.

Bids on the new discovery will be taken live at 300 E. Grove St.and by phone and via the Internet. The other two documents will besold later. All three were found in a box that apparently wentunsold at a Peoria estate sale, according to Penny.

"They were going to toss it," he said.

Penny declined to name the man who offered to take the box andlater realized the potential value of its contents. Penny saidexperts at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum inSpringfield authenticated the signature of the document, which datesto 1846 - about a month after Lincoln was elected to the U.S.Congress.

A Tazewell County judge had appointed Lincoln as guardian adlitem to handle the affairs of the heirs of a man named Bailey, whodied before the sale of two lots he owned was complete.

Guy Fraker, a Bloomington lawyer and Lincoln scholar who iswriting a book, "Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency: the 8thJudicial Circuit," said the document is from the heyday of Lincoln'slaw career, which extended from 1837 to 1860, when he was electedpresident.

Fraker said similar discoveries are rare, but they do happenbecause many original legal documents Lincoln signed were taken fromcourthouses by people doing research or who wanted souvenirs afterhis assassination.

"It is great that these are found and preserved. We really allown them in a sense," he said.

In monetary terms, the documents' value depends on condition andrarity, Penny said.

"Whenever they do come up (for sale), there are a lot of peoplewho want to get their hands on them," he said. "You're talking abouta part of history. He was a major figure in American history. Noteveryone can say they have a piece of history."

Seven years ago, while arranging an estate sale of a Bloomingtonman, the Bloomington Auction Gallery discovered a Lincoln documentstuck unceremoniously in a pile of papers due to be cast away, Pennysaid. The winning bid was $10,000.

Penny said it was another example of how people need to be awareof what they have before discarding anything.

"That just makes prices what they are today," he said. "So manyof these documents are lost over time, it only boosts the price."

On the Net: www.liveauctioneers.com/item/8765288