New Orleans gallery acquires Lincoln opera glasses
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This photo shows a set of small binoculars believed to have been carried by President Abraham Lincoln on the night he was assassinated at Ford's Theatre, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 in New Orleans. The opera glasses are said to have fallen from the mortally wounded Lincoln’s body as he was carried from Ford’s Theatre in 1865. A captain with the Washington City Guard picked them up from the street. They were handed down in his family for generations before being matched in 1968 to a case found in the balcony after Lincoln was shot. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)
A set of small binoculars believed to have been used by President Abraham Lincoln on the night he was assassinated in a Washington theater are now the latest prized possession of a New Orleans antique gallery.
The black enameled opera glasses were recently acquired by M.S. Rau Antiques, a shop on the French Quarter's Royal Street. Third-generation owner Bill Rau says the price is set at $795,000.
The opera glasses are said to have fallen from the mortally wounded Lincoln's body as he was carried from Ford's Theatre in 1865. A captain with the Washington City Guard picked them up from the street. They were handed down in his family for generations before being matched in 1968 to a case found in the balcony after Lincoln was shot.