Abraham Lincoln -

n.d.. Original 75¢ ticket, 3.5" x 2.25", printed on orange stock with a central image, in silver, of three quarter dollar coins. Right corners rounded, left corners slightly rounded. Imprinted in black: “FORD’S THEATRE / Tenth Street / [three quarter dollars] / Erected A.D. 1863.” On verso (not visible) is a facsimile signature of Ford’s Theatre treasurer H(arry) Clay Ford, brother of theatre owner John T. Ford, and the acting manager of the theatre for the April 14, 1865, performance. In apparent very good condition. The ticket, captioned “Ford’s Theatre / Admission Ticket,” is triple matted with similarly matted vignettes captioned “Actor John Wilkes Booth / Fires the Fatal Shot” and “Brandishing a Knife Booth Leaps / from the Presidential Box to the Stage” and a photo print “Ford’s Theatre / Washington, D.C.” Displayed in a slightly chipped 29.75” x 18.75” frame.<br /><br />According to FordsTheatre.org, “John T. Ford’s theatre on 10th Street was in its second season when the English actress and producer Laura Keene (1826-1873) opened a two-week engagement with Ford’s stock company that would conclude with a production of the British hit comedy ‘Our American Cousin.’ Keene would appear in the role of Florence Trenchard … The performance, scheduled for April 14th, would also be a ‘benefit’ for Keene (meaning that the house proceeds were reserved for her). By persuading President Lincoln to attend, Ford could use both the ‘benefit’ and Lincoln’s presence as lures to pack the theatre with playgoers. <b>The tickets, costing 75 cents each and handed to ticket-taker John Buckingham in the lobby, would entitle the bearers to a seat in the first tier of the theatre, on the same level with the box the president would occupy that night.</b>”<br /><br />According to nps.gov, there were three ticket prices that evening, “Family Circle – 25 cents / Dress Circle – 75 cents / Orchestra Level – 1 dollar.” It is interesting to note that the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana in the Library of Congress has two Ford’s Theatre tickets, a quarter-dollar ticket (picturing a quarter-dollar) and a half-dollar ticket (picturing a half-dollar), but not an example of the one here offered, a 75¢ ticket depicting three quarter dollars.<br /><br />This 75¢ ticket is said to be a ticket used by a theatregoer on the evening of April 14, 1865. <br />