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Collectors see little interest in impeachment mementos
January 8, 1999 (CNN) -- Those who watched the House Judiciary Committee's hearings on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton may have noticed Chairman Henry Hyde's liberal use of the gavel in the last minutes of the proceedings. "I just want to announce that I have been given several ceremonial gavels, which I am to use up here, and then they are to be given to people -- for what purpose, I don't know," Hyde said. Their purpose, like the 100 pens for the impeachment trial oath signings by the 100 senators: They are all souvenirs. But many who watch the market for memories say there's not much call yet for the pens and gavels that have punctuated the historic proceedings. Mort Berkowitz of New York has a collection of more than 800,000 political items. Unless something changes, Berkowitz said, there's nothing from Clinton's impeachment that he would buy. His opinion is shared by many collectors and experts, even though much less significant relics of other presidents have brought small fortunes at auction. Some of John F. Kennedy's personal items sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a fragment of a letter written by Abraham Lincoln brought more than $1.5 million. But the low odds laid on conviction, along with the duplication of Clinton souvenirs, seem to be dampening financial interest in them -- especially compared to other newsworthy items that have surfaced in the past year. "There was an excitement generated by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. I don't see the excitement here," Berkowitz said. For that other impeached president -- Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson -- there has long been a lack of excitement. On an auction Web site, a ticket to his 1868 trial that the owner values at $2,500 has attracted no bids. Collectors and other observers expect someone to start hoarding impeachment items. But if you're thinking of it as an investment, a senator's pen and a Mark McGwire home run ball are not in the same league. Correspondent Gary Tuchman contributed to this report. |
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MORE STORIES:Friday January 8, 1999
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