Garfield, James A. as Twentieth President

Partially lithographed document signed, 1 page (10 x 8 in.; 253 x 204 mm) on a bifolium of blue wove paper, accomplished in a clerical hand, Washington, 10 June 1881, being an order to Secretary of State James G. Blaine to affix the Seal of the United States, pencilled docket on verso; lightly discolored at edges, pinholes at intersecting folds.

The Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation (Sotheby Parke Bernet, 20 June 1979, lot 685) — The Forbes Magazine Collection (Christie's, 15 December 1995, lot 168)

Partially lithographed document signed, 1 page (10 x 8 in.; 253 x 204 mm) on a bifolium of blue wove paper, accomplished in a clerical hand, Washington, 10 June 1881, being an order to Secretary of State James G. Blaine to affix the Seal of the United States, pencilled docket on verso; lightly discolored at edges, pinholes at intersecting folds
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A fine example, with distinguished provenance, of Garfield's full signature as President, which, like Lincoln, he employed only on official documents. The present document authorizes Blaine "to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to the envelope of my letter in reply to a letter of H.M. the King of the Belgians, announcing the marriage of the Princess Stephanie to Prince Rodolphe of Austria dated this day, and signed by me. ..."

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria married the sixteen-year-old Princess Stéphanie of Belgium in St. Augustine's Church, Vienna, 10 May 1881. Their unhappy marriage ended eight years later when Rudolf and his mistress, Mary Vetsera, were found dead at his hunting lodge at Mayerling. Although several theories of political conspiracy have been advanced, it is generally accepted that the deaths were the result of a suicide pact. Whatever its cause, Archduke Rudolf's early death contributed to the dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy shortly after the death of his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I, in 1916.