Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

WARREN G. HARDING

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("WARREN G HARDING") AS TWENTY-NINTH PRESIDENT, SENDING HIS CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO "COUSIN WARREN"

One page (8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in.; 223 x 175 mm) on a bifolium of blue-embossed White House letterhead, Washington, 23 December 1922; rust-staining from paperclip at top and bottom left.

At two years and just shy of five months, Warren Harding's tenure as President was the fourth briefest of all the chief executives. As a result, the number of autograph letters he wrote and signed while in office is severely limited. Of the six such letters recorded in American Book Prices Current since 1975, two were merely responses to requests for autographs, and none were of such a personal nature as this greeting:

"Just a reminder of Christmas remembrances, with my most cordial greetings and good wishes. If opportunity affords, I wish you would convey my best Christmas greetings to your parents."