Abe on ebay

I took another tour through the Lincoln offerings on ebay, and found the usual mix of the interesting and the odd. Highlights:

• An Abraham Lincoln antique amber bottle. What is a bottle like this supposed to contain, anyway? Alcohol? If so, I can't say an image of Lincoln the teetotaller would be amenable to one's draining the bottle with gusto. And I can't say much for the likeness of Abe; his cheekbones look like a plastic surgeon gone wild.


• An Abraham Lincoln collectible plate. My grandma would have loved this. Random thought: what is the most reproduced of the seventy-odd Lincoln images (not counting the five dollar bill)? I'd put my money on the one used on this plate (and my blog's masthead).


• A limestone clock, which--according to the bidder--was made for Lincoln and presented to him as a gift in 1861 while Lincoln supposedly made a trip through northwest Missouri. I'm pretty skeptical about this one. I don't think Lincoln ever visited Missouri in 1861; it certainly wasn't part of his train ride to Washington DC.


• A five dollar bill signed by Abraham Lincoln--yeah, right. Compared to this, the granite clock makes perfect sense.


• A Lincoln "Effanbee" doll. What the heck is an "Effabee doll"?


• A tintype of Lincoln, with really funky hair. This is sort of what my 9 year old son looks like in the morning.