White House autograph book up for auction in Vancouver
Posted September 12, 2013 12:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER(NEWS1130) – He was the head doorkeeper at the White House from 1869 to 1909, and some very famous people crossed his path to meet with presidents.
Major Charles Loeffler’s autograph book is up for auction in Vancouver.
Neil McAllister with Maynards Fine Art & Antiques says it was a habit back in the day to collect autographs.
“So any time somebody of importance or of interest to him visited the White House, Loeffler would ask them for their autograph,” he says.
Along with eight presidents including Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses S Grant, many other key historic figures signed the book.
“Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody, P.T. Barnum, Winston Churchill, even the Queen of Hawaii is in there,” McAllister says.
There are 300 signatures in all.
He says the neat thing about this book is it’s a known entity.
“Even back then people knew he was collecting signatures,” he says.
McAllister has valued the book between $10,000 to $15,000 dollars, “but if you get two or more people interested in it, money is no object.”
He thinks because most of the signatures are related to American politics, it’ll go south of the border to a collector of presidential memorabilia and autographs.
Major Charles Loeffler’s autograph book is on display at Maynards on Main Street until it goes under the hammer on Wednesday Sept 18th. 
