Philadelphia Man Selling Thomas Jefferson Letter Found In Attic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Inside an Ardmore, Pennsylvania office sits an American treasure. It is not from a museum, but from an attic 1,000 miles away from Philadelphia, where it sat for years.
"We got a call from Mississippi and the man said I have some letters, I don't really know exactly what I have," Nathan Raab of the Raab Collection told Eyewitness News. "We get quirky calls all the time and most of them end up being nothing," he said.
Raab sensed something different this time around, so he investigated and it turns out, a four page Thomas Jefferson letter was the prize. "The scope, the value, the power of these letters, I don't think it dawned on him until we really started digging in," Raab said.
The letter was written by Thomas Jefferson himself in 1815 and it focuses on the War of 1812. The majority of the letter was written during the war, but the P.S. after Jefferson's name indicates he finished writing the letter after he learned the war had ended.
Jefferson's letter is in remarkable condition. Raab is currently selling the letter for $325,000. If you can't afford it, Raab says to start looking around your house. He believes there are still treasures, waiting to be discovered.
"It's such a powerful, evocative, emotional letter of Jefferson. You can picture him sitting at his desk, penning this American treasure," Raab said.
For more on the Raab Collection, visit http://www.raabcollection.com/.
