LINCOLN "WIDE AWAKE" CIVILIAN PARADE MARCHER HAT.
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Winning Bid:
$6,392.98
(Includes 18% Buyer's Premium)
Bidding Ended:
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:00:00 PM (20 Minute Clock Begins At Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:00:00 PM)
Item Description
4.25x9x10" civilian mechanics style cap. Retains paper "7-1/8" size tag stitched along back seam. Expertly hand painted text "Wide Awake" w/trio of applied gold metallic star rosettes. Lightly waterproof treated top of cap has six tiny holes and scattered moisture marks. Hand painted text has minor bleed of the "DE" in "Wide" and the first "A" in "Awake". Otherwise extremely clean w/only trivial handling. The condition is almost too good to be true, so much so it gave us pause on first inspection as the wear is consistent with perhaps a single use before storage away from climate and light. Interior sections of the hat display as cleanly as much of the exterior, a phenomenon rarely seen. Subsequent detailed inspections by us, outside collectors and respected dealers have resulted in mixed feelings on this hat. Because of this we are offering it as is with no guarantee or warranty. The hat comes with a letter from the original seller Dale C. Anderson Co. from Aug. of 2000 as well as a letter of examination from legendary Americana dealer Rex Stark dated Sept. 1, 2000. See additional history and extensive imaging online. If you would like to examine the hat in person or over a zoom call please contact us to make an appointment.
Wide Awake Marchers: Early in March a group of 36 young men from Hartford, CT formed a political group, The Wide Awakes, inspired by a young politician from Illinois who had thrust himself into the presidential spotlight after a speech at Cooper Union, New York advocating the rights of workers and the end of slavery's spread. On March 5, after Lincoln's address in their hometown the group, clad in their oilcloth capes, headgear with torches aloft formed a marching party to escort Lincoln to his resting place for the night. Lincoln was impressed by the grassroots youth faction encouraging them and soon their numbers across the country grew. By mid-summer Wide Awake groups had sprung up in every Northern state emerging as an electoral force and by Oct. the group counted nearly 500,000 members with tens of thousands at demonstrations in New York and Chicago during the final month of the presidential campaign. Lincoln's victory solidified the group as the most effective grass roots political organization in US history. Artifacts produced by the Wide Awakes, beyond some tokens, are notoriously scarce and highly coveted by collectors. If this hat is truly of the period, it is a remarkable find. It certainly wouldn't be the first too-good-to-be-true find, but we reiterate authenticity is undetermined and this offering carries no guarantee or warranty.
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