GUEST: My grandfather, Abbott Kimball, is from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and he moved to New York in the late 1910s and was in the advertising business. He was very creative and was a big art collector. He collected a lot of art and other things, and this was one of the pieces that he purchased when he was in New York.
APPRAISER: Do you have any idea what he paid for it?
GUEST: I really don't. It was one of many items that when he passed away, my mom and her sister sort of divided these things, and this came into our possession. My mom gave it to me just a couple of years ago.
APPRAISER: It's a very interesting item. At first when you look at it, and just a quick look, "Gee, it's a letter and it's George Washington." So when you read the letter, it says, "Dear sir, I'm going to send my carriage "for you and your guests. We'll pick you up and we'll look forward to seeing you." It essentially refers to Mount Vernon. So wow, somebody's getting picked up, coming over, seeing the president in 1798, just shortly, actually, before George Washington died at the end of the next year. But where it even gets more interesting is on this side piece here. It's the address form and it's to James McHenry.
GUEST: That's right, the secretary of war.
APPRAISER: The secretary of war, not only with Washington but with Adams. He was also a doctor in the Revolutionary War. Of course, one of the more famous things about McHenry was the fort was named after him.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: A lot of times when these are framed like this to make them graphically more interesting, they frame a picture of the people involved. Well, you have Washington and you have McHenry. Tell me about the bottom piece.
GUEST: Yes, the bottom piece is James H. McHenry, the son of James McHenry, secretary of war, and he is giving this autographed letter of George Washington to an individual, and I can't quite read his name. It looks like "McKitrich" or something like that.
APPRAISER: With the "George Washington" and actually all of the writing, it's dark, it's very bold. A lot of these letters tend to fade, so that's a big plus. Bringing together the two famous figures adds to the value. I would say on a retail level, this is probably a $10,000 to $15,000 item.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: If it was just the George Washington without the address and then you wouldn't know it was McHenry, you would be talking probably a $5,000 to $7,000 just nice sign. But bringing in the address form adds that extra doubling of the value to some degree.
GUEST: Wow, isn't that great?
APPRAISER: You almost start wondering, "What was that meeting like?"
GUEST: Great.
APPRAISER: Thank you.
GUEST: Thank you.
