2 pen nibs used by Lincoln as President, 44 x 6 mm, mounted to letter of provenance, one nib engraved "A. Sommerville & Cos / Lincoln Pen" surmounting a maker's mark and an American shield, rust to tines of one nib, framed.
Provenance: Mary Todd Lincoln to Samuel T. Atwater to A.E. Stone to Swinburn (letter of provenance).

AN UNUSUAL LINCOLN RELIC. The letter of provenance reads, in full: "Will Dr. Swinburn accept these little mementos of our lamented President Lincoln? I have taken them from a box which was in use by him at the time of his death at his private secretary and given by Mrs. Lincoln to her friend and mine Mr. Samuel T. Atwater of this city from whom I received them about two years since. A.E. Stone Chicago June 23 1868." Samuel T. Atwater was a successful Chicago insurance agent and an associate of President Lincoln. His wife, Elizabeth Emerson Atwater - a dedicated collector whose mineralogical specimens formed part of the collection at the Chicago Academy of Sciences - was a friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, from whom she once received a decorative photo album as a New Year's gift. (See "Correspondence of Elizabeth Atwater and G. W. Clinton." Missouri Botanical Garden. Ed. P.M Eckel. N.p., 6 Aug. 2003. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.)