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Lot 1124

WRIGHT, ORVILLE. 1871-1948.
Letter Signed ("Orville Wright"), Dayton, Ohio, July 31, 1913, to J.M. Erwin,

25 October 2022, 14:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$1,657.50 inc. premium

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WRIGHT, ORVILLE. 1871-1948.

Letter Signed ("Orville Wright"), Dayton, Ohio, July 31, 1913, to J.M. Erwin, on The Wright Company letterhead.

"Katherine and I reached home just in time to enjoy the flood! I found the Academy of Science medals in our safety deposit vault when the waters went down. My brother Lorin had received them, placed them in the safety deposit, and had forgotten to tell Wilbur and me of it. The papers contained in the second package where [sic] also received."
Wright here refers to the French Academy of Sciences medals that he and his brother Wilbur had received in 1909 and to the 1913 Dayton Flood, which destroyed or damaged 14,000 homes and businesses. The Wright Brothers saw their original flyer and their collection of photographic plates covering their early experiments, both of which were stored in a shed by their house, damaged. Their early research material and papers were stored in their shop which was thankfully spared when a fire broke out on their block.

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