GUEST: My grandmother's grandfather was a topographical engineer for the U.S. Army, and he was also friends with Abraham Lincoln.
APPRAISER: Really?
GUEST: And his children played with Abraham Lincoln's children. He was a general in the Union Army and was killed at Chancellorsville, and Abraham Lincoln came to his funeral as a friend. This ended up in my grandmother's estate.
APPRIASER: That's absolutely remarkable. So how would it have come into your ancestor's possession in the first place?
GUEST: I wish I could tell you that.
APPRIASER: A mystery.
GUEST: It is a mystery.
APPRAISER: It's a pardon to get a man out of prison.
GUEST: Correct.
APPRAISER: Was the prisoner a relative of yours?
GUEST: Uh, no, he was not.
APPRAISER: Who was he?
GUEST: That I do not know.
APPRAISER: So it starts out, this is all in secretarial hand, of course. Abraham Lincoln, it's an 1861 presidential pardon of a prisoner, Charles de Villier, for good behavior and the fact that he had never committed an offense previously. President Lincoln granted him a pardon. He was sentenced originally to 18 months in prison and served six months of that prison sentence before President Lincoln pardoned him. I'd like to turn the document over so we can continue and see the rest of it.
GUEST: Certainly.
APPRAISER: Of course, it's almost easier to see the presidential seal from the back side here that's blotted all over it. The pardon continues down on the second page of the document, and then again, as I already said, the entire document is written in a secretarial hand, but here is the authentic hand-signed signature of President Abraham Lincoln, and then the Secretary of State witnessing the presidential pardon. It's just a living, breathing piece of our American history. I believe that your signed Abraham Lincoln presidential pardon document would be, at retail, worth between $12,000 to $15,000.
GUEST: Wow, that's great! That's exciting.