Inaugural Trinkets

“In the collector community, the inaugural is a stepchild,” says Joe Levine of the Presidential Coin & Antique Company, in a Wall Street Journal piece by Ellen Gamerman (1/19/13). It’s not hard to see why, when a pair of “commemorative socks, emblazoned with a ’44′ in honor of the 44th president,” is among the souvenirs available as President Obama takes the oath of office for a second time. Other items include “ribbed tank tops for dogs,” along with a variety of “documents, medals, posters and more quirky souvenirs.”

That’s not to say that certain inauguration day artifacts — “like a letter from George Washington thanking Congress for its congratulations on his inauguration” — don’t command big bucks. Sotheby’s sold the letter for $362,500 in 2001. A “silvered brass shoe buckle” believed to commemorate Washington’s second inauguration sold for $6,573, and “a medal bearing Teddy Roosevelt’s profile from 1905 designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, is often valued at more than $20,000.”

In some cases, items “presented as instant heirlooms may not hold up in value,” such as “a limited-edition American eagle sculpture” marking Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration. Originally sold for $1,200, they can be had today for as little as $350. Programs, invitations and even inaugural tickets that seem like they ought to have value, typically do not. Perhaps the most valuable inaugural artifact of all time is an “autographed manuscript” from Lincoln’s second inauguration. It sold for $1.3 million in 1992, and contains the four famous words: “With malice toward none.”