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Spy ring center to house second Washington letter
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February 12, 2009 | 02:49 PM
Although on Lincoln's birthday an American record was set for a document in the hand of the 16th U.S. president, a letter from our first President took a large step the same day toward returning to its intended destination on Long Island.
A contingent from the Three Village area, center of the Revolutionary War spy ring that served then-General George Washington so well, successfully acquired a second handwritten Washington letter for display at the Melville Library on the campus of Stony Brook University.
Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) called the acquisition a "stunning achievement" for SBU and the Three Village area.
Once again, Old Field resident Henry Laufer went a long way toward making the purchase possible, putting up "in the neighborhood of half the price" of the $57,600 it took to win the bidding Thursday at Christie's Auction House in Manhattan, according to the assemblyman.
The winning bid was $48,000, but Christie's commission is added to that figure to arrive at the total cost.
An Assembly grant to SBU was the source of the balance of the purchase price, Englebright said.
In May of 2006, the same bidders were able to acquire the first Washington spy letter at auction, for twice the price of this one, which is now in the special collections section of the library at SBU.
Englebright said the group that traveled to the city and "were in the front row" during the auction — that naturally was heavy with President Abraham Lincoln items — included Chris Filstrup, director of the Melville Library; Kristan Nyitray, head of library special collections; Elizabeth Kaplan from the Three Village Historical Society, and Barbara Russell, of Setauket, Brookhaven Town historian.
Englebright said a hand-written document by Lincoln — his victory speech following re-election in 1864 — was sold during the same auction for $3 million, a new record for an American document.
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