The only ticket that has ever surfaced to the Gettysburg Address sold on Thursday for $187,500.
The ticket came from a scrapbook owned by Elizabeth P. Dole, partner of William Dole, the commissioner of Indian Affairs under Abraham Lincoln. Dole was a marshal who traveled with the Lincoln to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where 50,000 soldiers from both sides died in July 1863.
The Gettysburg Address is often cited as the most famous speech by a president in American history. What's interesting about that is that it wasn't thought of in that way until after Lincoln was long gone. In fact, Lincoln's speech was so brief that there is only one known photograph of him speaking.
Lincoln's 11-sentence, 272-word address came after the main act, Edward Everett, whose speech lasted more than two hours. Lincoln's brevity was matched with perfect phrases such as "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
The auction timing as well as where the lot in the auction sat was nothing short of strange. Heritage Auctions, in Dallas, Texas kicked off the auction at 11:50 am ET on Thursday and had the Gettysburg Address lot at No. 148. One would think a piece of such importance wouldn't be featured during the day time and would certainly be given top billing.
But at $187,500, it now sits as the most expensive non-sports ticket ever. It beats out the pair of tickets from Ford’s Theatre the night of Lincoln’s assassination, which sold for sold for $262,500 ($131,250 each).
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.