![WASHINGTON, George. Autograph free frank ("Go:Washington"), on an address panel addressed in Washington's hand to "Col. Clement Biddle Philadelphia," black circular postmark "ALEX[ANDRIA] VA Dec 9" [1799]. The full sheet 7 x 8 in. approximately, address panel, 3¼ x 5 in., plush matted and framed with an oval portrait in a fine giltwood frame.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09652_0177_000(025622).jpg?w=1)
細節
WASHINGTON, George. Autograph free frank ("Go:Washington"), on an address panel addressed in Washington's hand to "Col. Clement Biddle Philadelphia," black circular postmark "ALEX[ANDRIA] VA Dec 9" [1799]. The full sheet 7 x 8 in. approximately, address panel, 3¼ x 5 in., plush matted and framed with an oval portrait in a fine giltwood frame.
ONE OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S LAST FREE FRANK SIGNATURES, A FINE EXAMPLE
A free-franked envelope from one of the last letters Washington wrote prior to his death on December 14, 1799. The letter to which this address leaf was once attached is part of the collection of the New York Public Library. Clement Biddle (1740-1814), formerly an aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene, was for many years Washington's business representative in Philadelphia. The former President's letter, dated 8 December concerned his desire to sell large quantities of flour and fish at the Philadelphia market "as it commands a better price there." Washington also requested that Biddle send him six bushels of clover seed, suggesting he contact a good judge of seed quality, since "I am particular always in my seeds" (See Writings, ed. J.C. Fitzpatrick, 37:457-458).
This undoubtedly constitutes one of Washington's last free franks: during the final week of his life, Washington wrote only nine letters (4 on the 8th, 2 on the 10th, and one each on the 9th, 12th and 13th), according to Fitzpatrick. After spending some hours riding about Mount Vernon in the midst of a severe winter storm on the 12th, Washington awoke the next day with a severe sore throat and experienced respiratory difficulties. The three doctors who attended him bled and purged him several times on the 14th, to no avail. That evening, while taking his own pulse, Washington died.
ONE OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S LAST FREE FRANK SIGNATURES, A FINE EXAMPLE
A free-franked envelope from one of the last letters Washington wrote prior to his death on December 14, 1799. The letter to which this address leaf was once attached is part of the collection of the New York Public Library. Clement Biddle (1740-1814), formerly an aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene, was for many years Washington's business representative in Philadelphia. The former President's letter, dated 8 December concerned his desire to sell large quantities of flour and fish at the Philadelphia market "as it commands a better price there." Washington also requested that Biddle send him six bushels of clover seed, suggesting he contact a good judge of seed quality, since "I am particular always in my seeds" (See Writings, ed. J.C. Fitzpatrick, 37:457-458).
This undoubtedly constitutes one of Washington's last free franks: during the final week of his life, Washington wrote only nine letters (4 on the 8th, 2 on the 10th, and one each on the 9th, 12th and 13th), according to Fitzpatrick. After spending some hours riding about Mount Vernon in the midst of a severe winter storm on the 12th, Washington awoke the next day with a severe sore throat and experienced respiratory difficulties. The three doctors who attended him bled and purged him several times on the 14th, to no avail. That evening, while taking his own pulse, Washington died.