Press Release

Wilton, CT, USA, November 5, 2024 -- Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday, November 5th, to elect a new president, but a different kind of presidential history might be made less than a week earlier – on Wednesday, October 30th. That’s when University Archives, the Connecticut-based auction house, will offer a complete set of presidential signatures, from George Washington to Barack Obama, all signed while the men were in office.

The group, gathered by a Dallas gentleman who stopped collecting the signatures after Obama’s presidency, consists of autograph letters signed; typed letters signed; and signed letters; together with a variety of signed documents. They date from 1789 to 2010 and all show bold signatures.

The online-only auction will begin promptly at 10 am Eastern time and the presidential set, lot #89 in the catalog, has a pre-auction estimate of $400,000-$500,000.

“There are very few complete sets of presidential autographs signed as President, mainly due to the scarcity of William Henry Harrison pieces, as he served just one month in office,” said John Reznikoff, the president and owner of University Archives. “Many of these sets reside in institutions and will never be offered to the public.”

Mr. Reznikoff added that, based on a census taken by Joseph Rubinfine in 2002 and updated by Seth Kaller in 2023, “it is believed that fewer than a dozen such sets likely exist in private hands, this being one of the very best. A set of presidential signatures as President is thus scarcer than a set of signers of the Declaration of Independence.”

The Dallas collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, was described by Mr. Reznikoff as “a man whose passion for history and preservation inspired him to assemble this phenomenal, museum-quality signers set.”

Mr. Reznikoff is a frequent guest on TV and a main character on the hit Netflix TV show The King of Collectibles. He started collecting at age eight, when he wrote a letter to then-President Richard Nixon. He said it takes years, if not decades, to accumulate a collection like the one being offered.

“The collector let us know that this set was, and is, stored in climate-controlled vaults, which is kind of like keeping a rare car in a garage,” Reznikoff said. “He told me the collection has never been exhibited. He hopes a new buyer will take that on, maybe even showing it at the White House with a newly installed president.”

All of the signed items are fascinating snapshots into the lives of America’s past presidents and the times in which they lived and served. All are historically significant as well as being highly collectible. A handful of examples are as follows:

- George Washinton. A two-page letter dated October 3, 1789 and signed “Go: Washington”. America’s first president transmits the first Acts of Congress (including the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the First Federal Budget) to Connecticut Governor Samuel Huntington.

- Thomas Jefferson. A one-page letter signed “Th Jefferson”, dated December 13, 1803. In the letter, to an unnamed Governor, Jefferson circulates the 12th Amendment to the Constitution for ratification, regarding the election of President and Vice President, to avoid a crisis like that of the 1801 election.

- William Henry Harrison. Harrison served exactly one month in office – from March 4 to April 4, 1841. In that brief time, he signed a ship’s passport (“posthumously issued”) for a doomed whaling vessel. The document, dated April 30, 1841, is signed “W H Harrison” and countersigned “Danl Webster” as Secretary of State.

Organisation Profile: