Antiquities of California....

[steve B]

The Washington may be ok but overpriced. It's a free frank letter, either the whole thing or just a wrapper. There's one on ebay that's not quite as nice and unframed for 11000.

The Hancock may also be ok but more likely secretarial. That sort of document was really common, and not always signed by the president himself.
Probably also overpriced.

At one time I knew a place that had a box full of those documents, all early 1800's. Not too expensive either. I checked with someone I knew who'd be able to help me sell them. I thought I'd found a big score as they only wanted around $20 each.(Early 80's, not cheap if the signatures weren't actual, but way low if they were) He told me anout the secretarial thing, and that I'd have to buy them and send them to experts at a cost.... And that they were almost certain to be secretarial. Even those are more than 20 bucks now, so I'd have done ok eventually. I still wonder if that box held any real ones.

Steve B