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To all of you interested in politics/and or American history:

I guarantee you have never seen a collection like this. The Potomack Company auction gallery in Alexandria Virginia is holding an auction Nov. 1 (tomorrow; Saturday) that features the most amazing collection of political and historical memorabilia I have ever seen:

It includes a chillingly prescient JFK letter featured in the attachment, a letter from before he even ran for president in which he discusses the weird history of no president elected in a year ending in '0' surviving the presidency. But that is just a small part of this treasure trove -- on which bids can be placed in person, by phone, or on Ebay.  Among the items that particularly grabbed my attention:

* Presidential documents (originals) signed by James Madison (my favorite), James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, and a number of other presidents.

* A phenomenal collection of Herbert Hoover memorabilia that includes a handsome hardcover 1929 official inaugural program book.

* Phonograph records radio addresses by Franklin Roosevelt.

* A photograph of one of the most distinguished Supreme Courts of all time, the 1930-'32 court that included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Chief Justice (and former GOP presidential nominee) Charles Evans Hughes, Lewis Brandeis, Harlan Fiske Stone, Willam Van Devanter, and Owen "Switch in Time" Roberts.

* A collection of memorabilia of failed presidential candidates Al Smith, Alf Landon, Tom Dewey, Barry Goldwate, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, Nelson Rockefeller, and George McGovern

* A Truman piece that blows my mind. It is a hardcover book, FIRST EDITION, one of only 250 published, specially bound number 193, signed by Truman to his valet, along with a proclamation by Truman, also a signed original, proclaiming victory in Europe on May 8, 1945.

* An invitation to Reagan's first inaugural personally signed by George and Barbara Bush.

* A photo, with personal signature cards (hand-signed) from each of the principals, of the first time ever that five living presidents (and, obviously, ex-presidents: Bush 41, Reagan, Nixon, Carter, and Ford) ever gathered.

* An official voting machine from the Florida 2000 election, along with some infamous "chads."

* And, particularly for my New Orleans friends and WWII buffs, two pastel-on-paper drawings of practice D-Day landings that took place on Martha's Vineyard in 1944 using the famous Higgins boats. The drawings are by Victor De Pauw, a witness to the practice exercise, whose drawings regularly graced the New Yorker covers and other publications during the era. Frankly, I think this framed duo of drawings should hang in the D-Day Museum in New Orleans; it is REALLY good looking. 

Again, you can bid by phone or on Ebay. Go to the site to see how to do it.

(Full disclosure: My wife works at the Potowmack Company - but neither she nor anybody else asked me to post this note. I went to a preview of the auction, and was just blown away by it. I figured readers of TAS would feel deprived NOT to know about this opportunity.)