Rare Presidential Letter To Hit Miami Auction Block
MIAMI (CBS4) - A piece of presidential history will hit the auction block Wednesday night in Miami.
The auction house Hammer and Block has been consigned a rare, hand written letter by President Barack Obama.
They received the letter from a man, who they identify only as "Tim", who said in 2009 he became angry after reading about AIG giving employees huge bonuses with government bailout money. In frustration "Tim" said he typed out a letter and faxed it to the White House addressed "To Anyone With Common Sense".
Not expecting any reply, "Tim" said he was shocked when he received in the mail about a week later a card from President Obama.
"I was stunned I was amazed. My jaw just dropped," said Tim. ""I couldn't believe that our President wrote a common man like me a letter."
The auction house said the correspondence, written on White House stationary, is extremely rare. Mr. Obama reportedly reads only about 10 letters a day from the public and rarely replies to them personally.
"We have compared hand writing and signatures of the ones that have sold already and it is consummate to the ones that have sold in the past," said Hammer and Block Auctioneers CEO Neil Hunt.
A Florida panhandle man who received a handwritten letter from Mr. Obama last year sold it to a New York dealer for $6-thousand; they have put it up for sale for $10-thousand.
"So why take the letter and sell it," asked CBS4's Jorge Estevez.
"I have a family member who is in need of an operation and I don't have the funds to help that family member other than to sell that letter," said Tim, "That is why I am selling it today."
The auction of the presidential card will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Hammer and Block gallery at 415 NW 26th Street in the heart of the Wynwood Art District.
