NEW YORK – An album containing the autographs of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and other prominent Civil War-era figures failed to find a buyer at a New York City auction.
Swann Auction Galleries in Manhattan says the album was compiled from 1861-1864 by the wife of Egbert L. Viele (VEE'-lee), a Union Army general from upstate New York.
Its estimated sale price was $80,000 to $120,000, but according to the auction house's website the album went unsold at Thursday's auction.
Teresa Viele collected the autographs and handwritten letters from famous political, military and literary figures so it could be sold in 1864 to benefit the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which provided aid to sick and wounded Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of war.
The album was bought for $20,000 by a bidder who gave it back to Teresa Viele.
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