Ephemera is not some dreaded disease found in equatorial Africa. Ephemera refers to items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity. Collectors really covet documents with a U.S. Presidential signature. Good examples are greeting cards, photographs, military appointments, deeds, and land grants.
The Grover Cleveland Caper
Recently a couple came into Appalachian Antique Mall with a wood box filled with ephemera. They said they thought the lot was worth around $1500. Among the papers were some old land grant documents, some of which they stated had the Presidential signatures of Grover Cleveland and James Buchanan. One land grant in very good condition was an 1893 Oregon Land Grant signed by Grover Cleveland. As a quick check to determine what something like that might be worth, we went on eBay.
To our surprise, we found that an identical 1893 Oregon Land Grant signed by Cleveland had just sold!!! For $15. Upon closer inspection, we noticed that it was the same land grant the couple brought into our store, right down to the folds in the paper and document numbers. How could this be? The one that sold on eBay went to a buyer in a different part of the country.
The simple answer is one or both were fakes. With computers, copiers, digital cameras etc., the copying of old documents is easy and rampant. In some cases, people are getting old blank paper or pages out of old books and copying onto it. Land grants are one of the most popular documents to counterfeit. Those with authentic Presidential signatures can have real value, BUT the trick is determining if they are forgeries or not. Here is a good way to start.
Presidential Writer’s Cramp
Is the signature from a U.S. President on a land grant dated after 1833? If so, he probably didn’t sign it. His secretary did. And this is why:
In the early days of our country, the President was relatively accessible. Any citizen could shake the President’s hand if he were willing to stand in line long And one of the President’s more mundane duties in those days was to sign routine documents himself to make them legal. Early Presidents signed everything from photos to military commissions to ships’ papers to patents for land grants. The latter, when the federal government was selling the entire frontier in small parcels to individual settlers, became a monumental chore.
By the early 1830s, signing land grants had finally gotten out of hand. In June 1832, the commissioner of the general land office wrote to Congress that there were more than 10,500 completed land patents waiting the signature of President Andrew Jackson. Congress passed a law in March 1833 to relieve this burden, authorizing the President to appoint a special secretary to sign land patents–in essence to legally forge the President’s signature. Jackson therefore became the last president to personally sign land grants. If you see one on eBay from a later president, offered as an “authentic signature,” you now know better.
Meanwhile, back at our antique mall. When we started to research another land grant signed by President James Buchanan, our ephemera-peddling couple, they gathered up their documents and quickly exited the mall. Grover and out!
Which Presidential Autographs are the Real McKinley?
One last tip on buying anything with an “original” Presidential autograph. Everyone in the Presidential ephemera collecting circle agrees on one indisputable piece of advice for interested buyers – always buy from a reputable source. This will increase the odds that you are indeed buying an authentic autograph.
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