LINCOLN'S SHIP MODEL & TOP HAT TO LEAVE PATENT OFFICE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 26, 1925, The Washington Times reports "many of the models and objects which have accumulated...in the Patent Office* will be sold for junk" or given to the National Museum.
Among these is "a plain model roughly executed representing the framework of the hull of a Western steamboat." This model bears a ticket which reads...
'Model For Sinking & Raising Boats by Bellows," A. Lincoln, May 30, 1849.
Also, in another case, is "the hat worn by (President Lincoln) on the night of his assassination (April 14, 1865)."
JFK+50 NOTE
On the night of Lincoln's assassination, he dressed in a silk top hat, size 7 1/8, from the Washington hat maker J. Y. Davis. At the time AL was shot, the hat was sitting on the floor beside his chair.
*United States Patent Office was located in the Penn Quarter of Washington D.C.'s Chinatown between F&G Streets/7th&9th Streets in 1925. The structure was built from 1836-1867 & today is home to the National Portrait Gallery.
SOURCES
"A. Lincoln's Top Hat: The Inside Story," by Stephen Carter, November 2013, Smithsonian Magazine, www.smithsonianmag.com/
"Lincoln's Ship Model Prized Relic," The Washington Times, February 26, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
Lincoln's Top Hat
