NEW YORK (AP) — The sale of a prominent Abraham Lincoln scholar’s
collection of material pertaining to the nation’s 16th president brought
in nearly $300,000 at a New York City auction.

Swann Galleries says nearly 90 percent of Harold Holzer’s collection of
hundreds of Lincoln books, artwork and documents was sold recently
at auction in Manhattan. The overall sale total of $299,995 topped the
presale estimate of $158,000 to $236,000.

An 1860 painting of Lincoln before he grew a beard drew the highest
price at $40,000.

Holzer is an award-winning historian best known for his books on
Lincoln and the Civil War. He collected hundreds of Lincoln items
during the decades he spent researching and writing about him.

Holzer currently serves as director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt     
House Public Policy Institute.

Harold Holzer

         
Abraham Lincoln’s Opera Glasses,The Pair He Brought to Ford’s
Theatre and Held in His Hands at The Time of His Assassination.

Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (Zelle)
(August 7, 1876 – October 15, 1917)

(Fox News) – Extremely rare letters from infamous World War I spy Mata
Hari to her lover have been sold for $15,000 at a Los Angeles auction.

Born Margaretha Zelle in the Netherlands in 1876, the courtesan and
exotic dancer was better known by her stage name of Mata Hari. She
was recruited by France to spy on Germany during World War I, and
was later accused of being a German double agent. 

Arrested in Paris on Feb. 13, 1917, she was put on trial on July 24 of
that year, charged with spying for Germany and causing the deaths
of at least 50,000 soldiers. Convicted, she was executed by a French
firing squad on Oct. 15, 1917. Some historians, however, think that
she was a scapegoat and her execution was used as a distraction
from the devastating losses France suffered during the war.

(Fox News) – An extremely rare nickel up for auction in Philadelphia fetched
$4.56 million from an anonymous buyer Wednesday.

The Stack’s Bowers Galleries offered the Eliasberg 1913 Liberty Head Nickel
for auction during the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of
Money.

According to Brian Kendrella, president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries,“This is
truly a momentous sale and one for the history books.” He said “The new
owner of the Eliasberg nickel now possesses one of the rarest, most valuable United States coins, and one of only three examples of this coveted coin in
private hands.”

The coin is named for financier Louis E. Eliasberg, who bought the coin in
1948, and amassed one of the greatest coin collections in U.S. history.

This special nickel is one of only five ever produced at the Third Philadelphia
Mint.

Brian Kendrella

David Bowie (David Robert Jones)
(January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016)  

(Fox News) – Before blasting off into space in 1969 with his first single at the
top of the UK charts, “Space Oddity," the late David Bowie, who was then
called by his birth name: David Jones, hitchhiked from band to band in
pursuit of stardom.

Now, his most primitive recording as a member of The Konrads is heading
to auction in September, and is expected to sell for at least $13,000. 

Former The Konrads drummer and manager David Hadfield found the tape
today, which includes Bowie’s lead vocals on the song, “I Never Dreamed",
in an old bread basket sitting in his garage.

According to Hadfield, There is no other recording featuring David as lead
in existence.”

Napoleon wore this hat at the battle of Waterloo on this day in 1815.

(Fox News) – An extremely rare ‘bicorne,’ or 2-pointed hat, that was worn by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo was sold at auction in France
for $325,000 on Monday.

The hat went under the hammer for $325,052 at Lyon-based auction house
De Baecque. The hat had a pre-sale estimate of $34,881 to $46,441.

The auction house told Fox News the bicorne was bought by a private
European collector who is "passionate" about the period of the First
French Empire.

Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821)