RARE 1862 NAVAL APPOINTMENT, SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS PRESIDENT

LINCOLN, Abraham. Engraved document signed. Washington, February 7, 1862. Single vellum sheet (13-1/2 by 17 inches), partially printed and finished in a secretarial hand, embossed green paper seal; matted and framed; entire piece measures 21 by 25 inches. $22,000.

Splendid Lincoln Civil War document, a rare naval appointment, naming George Cochran an assistant paymaster in the United States Navy, countersigned by Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, with fragile paper seal present, handsomely framed.

This naval commission was written at a time when the Union Navy was rapidly expanding to enforce a massive naval blockade at the Confederate coastline. This commission is handsomely engraved with military vignettes, one of an emblematic eagle and another of sailing images featuring Neptune with his trident. Naval appointments signed by Lincoln are notably rare, seen must less often than other military appointments.

Faint dampstaining along bottom edge. Handsomely framed.