Effects from United States' 18th president

For sale: Inspiration for GOP elephant?


Ulysses S. Grant's elephant-form inkwell is expected to sell for $25,000 to $35,000 at Sotheby's in New York

In this story:

Cartoonist a Grant booster

Drinker who 'saved the union'

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By Thurston Hatcher
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- It's the inkwell that may have inspired an icon. Now it's on the auction block.

Later this week, Sotheby's plans to sell the elephant-shaped inkwell that belonged to United States President Ulysses S. Grant, and is believed to have inspired the enduring symbol for the Republican Party.

It will be among a collection of the 18th president's belongings included in what Sotheby's is terming a sale of "Important Americana." The Grant collection, going on sale Thursday, also features a silver-plated Tiffany whiskey flask, a humidor and an American Indian pipe that Grant smoked in the White House with chiefs of Native American tribes.


A group of six photographs of Ulysses S. Grant is expected to fetch $3,000 to $5,000

The 74 lots in the sale, which were passed along to great-grandson Ulysses S. Grant V, have not been seen publicly since an exhibition more than a century ago in San Francisco, California.

"It's the sort of sale that lets collectors get a piece of the private life of a very important figure in American history," said Selby Kiffer, a senior specialist in books and manuscripts with Sotheby's.

Cartoonist a Grant booster

The elephant first surfaced as a symbol of the Republican Party in a cartoon published in Harper's Weekly in November 1874. The artist was Thomas Nast, an influential cartoonist whom Grant, president from 1869 to 1877, frequently entertained in the White House.

Although the GOP elephant's link to the inkwell isn't certain, Kiffer said the evidence suggests as much.

"The timing is right to say that inkwell might have inspired Nast," Kiffer said.

Kiffer said the inkwell's proposed sale has generated considerable attention, but he can't pinpoint exactly who's interested.


A Tiffany & Co. silverplate-mounted, glass flask hints at Grant's reputation for heavy drinking. It's expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000

"One would think it might be something of appeal to the GOP National Committee, or just a staunch Republican," he said.

'He saved the union'

The black-painted brass and glass item is expected to sell for $25,000 to $35,000, but it may not be the priciest piece of the collection.

The flask, expected to go for $40,000 to $60,000, is engraved with Grant's initials and is considered all the more intriguing, given the Civil War leader's reputed penchant for alcohol.

"Whatever the truth or exaggeration about the drinking, it is something he is very associated with," Kiffer said.

The Victorian oak humidor ($15,000 to $25,000) speaks to another of Grant's reported vices. He is said to have smoked 12 or more cigars daily, a habit that likely led to his terminal throat cancer.

"It's similar to the whiskey flask in that it's something emblematic of Grant's private life and a habit well associated with him," Kiffer said.

Another item is a copy of Owen Wister's biography of Grant ($25,000 to $35,000), featuring notes in the margins written by Grant's wife, Elizabeth.

In a note addressing Grant's drinking, she writes: "How unjust is history, he rarely touched any kind of liquor and when he did it was prescribed by his Dr when his pulse was low, and even if he did he saved the union."