Abraham Lincoln's blood-stained leather gloves - carried in his pocket the night he was assassinated - fetched a staggering $1.52 million at auction Wednesday, as a trove of historical artifacts was sold off to pay down an $8 million debt.
The gloves were the star attraction among 144 rare Lincoln-related items that hit the block at Freeman's/Hindman Auction House in Chicago.
A total of 136 pieces were sold, raising a whopping $7.9 million - though that figure includes steep buyers' premiums of around 28 percent, tacked on to cover auction house fees.
The sale was the dramatic result of a two-decade-old financial mess involving the Lincoln Presidential Foundation.
Back in 2007, the foundation borrowed big to buy a 1,540-piece collection from California collector Louise Taper. The items were meant to boost the appeal of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, which had opened just two years earlier.
