Description:

James A. Garfield
n.p., June 16, 1881
Important James A. Garfield PSA Signature Dated 2 Weeks Before Guiteau Shooting!
Signature
A 1p autograph album page boldly signed by sitting 20th U.S. President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) as "James A. Garfield," and additionally dated in Garfield's hand as "June 16. 1881". The autograph collector has added "Shot July 2nd" below Garfield's signature and date. Garfield's signature is unusually large - with an elaborate "d" and partial underline paraph - measuring about 4.875" x 2." PSA/DNA encapsulated and certified authentic. Expected wear including edge darkening and some minor smudges. An isolated area of pin pricks can be found at upper left, nowhere near the Garfield autograph. Else very good to near fine. The page measures 6.75" x 4" while the slab measures 10.125" x 6.625" overall.

Garfield had only been president for about three and a half months when he signed this album page, and two weeks later, he would be fatally shot.

On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot twice in the lounge of the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. by disgruntled office seeker Charles J. Guiteau (1841-1882). The second bullet lodged near Garfield's pancreas and proved irretrievable despite Alexander Graham Bell's attempts to locate the bullet using the cutting-edge technology of metal detection. Garfield died at age 49 from complications of an infection on September 19, 1881 in Elberon, New Jersey, after 80 days of excruciatingly painful convalescence spent in the White House and along the New Jersey shore. Garfield had been probed by many doctors unfamiliar with basic germ theory during the course of his medical treatment, leading Garfield's assassin, Guiteau, to declare, "Yes, I shot the president. But his physicians killed him."

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: slab: 10.125" x 6.625"
  • Medium: Signature

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August 7, 2024 10:00 AM EDT
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University Archives

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