James Copley Library in La Jolla (San Diego) sold a lot of their collection. It was purchased in the 60s and 70s by Copley, who liked museum quality books, letters, and documents. The Union-Tribune showed photos of Mark Twain from the late 1800s that were valued at around 3K, and that didn't impress me much.

The story talked about an early printing of the Declaration of Independence, whi was valued at $600,000. There was a chair Abraham Lincoln sat in when he learned he'd be nominated for President.

An unpublished manuscript by Mark Twain, lots and lots of letters. There was one Lincoln sent to a Civil War general that sold for almost half a million.

Lots of autograph collectors that like to complete pieces, will know the name Button Gwinnet. There were 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence, and Gwinnett is the tough one to acquire.You see, the Georgia legislator's only been known to exist on about 50 documents, because he was killed in a duel less than a year after signing the Declaration. Oh, the letter signed by him fected $722,500.

I recently saw the movie on Leo Tolstoy, and that made my eyes bulge when I saw they had letters from him, as well as Charles Dickens.

I can't help but wonder what Copley paid for these pieces in the 60s (he died in the early 70s).

A Philadelphia based dealer of historical documents (Nathan Raab), was checking out Albert Einstein letters and speeches, as well as Gandhi and Thoreau items.

Lucky for San Diego, the San Diego History Center is going to get 18 boxes of things donated.

Maybe I should call them up, and volunteer to go through the items for them (wink wink).

All in all, the collection is worth about $15 million.