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Hi,
We recently acquired a framed picture of George Washington, the first US president, and it’s print signed. It says “suppliment of new your tribune Sunday Feb 21, 1809,” which we are guessing is the 10th anniversary of his passing, and a Born and Died, but dates are not visible. Any idea of what we have here? Is there any value to the copy or print?
Let us know what you think.

The photo or copy has been on a friend’s wall for many years.

Thanks for your help,

Joe Carazola

 ???

Dear Mr. Carazola,

It is hard to be sure of the publication from which you got your framed picture the way you have spelled it—or, I suspect, misspelled it? In any case, the date is a bit confusing, because George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 and died on December 14, 1799 (so as commemoratives go, February 21, 1809 falls a day short of his birthday and almost ten months short of the 10th anniversary of his death. That said, apocrypha can be very valuable, but a lot of that depends on its condition as well as its age—something that the Antiques Roadshow could judge better than I, provided one of its experts had a look at it.

Sincerely,

 

Jon Guttman

Research Director

World History

www.historynet.com

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