The final time Carl Sferrazza Anthony noticed what he calls essentially the most precious factor he owns, he was sitting at a nook desk at a restaurant in Washington, ready for his udon noodle soup to reach.
Mr. Anthony, a historian of presidential households, had simply come from the White House Historical Association, the place he had picked up an engraved card from an aide to Jill Biden, the primary woman, who had signed it final 12 months and had stored it on the White House with a promise to have her husband signal it.
Mr. Anthony has spent three a long time amassing the signatures of presidents and first girls on the cardboard, which is engraved with a picture of the North Portico of the White House. With the addition of President Biden’s signature, the cardboard now had the signatures of eight presidents and eight first girls — each one from the Fords to the Bidens, save for the Trumps, whom Mr. Anthony had but to trace down.
Sitting at a nook desk at Teaism, a restaurant throughout from Lafayette Square, Mr. Anthony opened the manila folder that held the cardboard and took a photograph of it inside a flimsy plastic sleeve. He texted the picture to his brothers and sisters.
“Keep it in a safe place,” his sister texted again.
After lunch, Mr. Anthony took the manila folder in hand and walked again to his resort room lower than a mile away. He went to admire the cardboard and located it was gone — solely the plastic sleeve and the manila folder remained.
“I almost thought, ‘Did I play some kind of trick on myself, or did fate?’” Mr. Anthony mentioned in an interview on Tuesday, simply over every week after he had misplaced on the cardboard on July 24. “How in the world could this possibly happen? My brain exploded.”
Mr. Anthony mentioned he had by no means had the gathering appraised and had by no means considered promoting it, since he deliberate to maintain including signatures to it. Its worth, he mentioned, was primarily sentimental.
The signatures had been symbols, Mr. Anthony mentioned, of his diligence and the private relationships he had solid with presidents and their spouses. The lack of the gathering was beforehand reported by the Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak.
“I am trying to be philosophical about it, given the scope of so many people’s problems, but it’s been pretty crushing,” Mr. Anthony mentioned. “There must be a word to describe those peculiar things that happen to us as a result of the most mundane little mechanical intricacies of life.”
Brian Kathenes, an appraiser who makes a speciality of autographs, manuscripts, uncommon books and historic paperwork, mentioned {that a} coloration picture signed by 4 presidents — Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton — in addition to six first girls had bought at Sotheby’s in 2020 for $9,375.
Mr. Anthony’s signed engraving was “probably more valuable,” as a few of the presidents have died, Mr. Kathenes mentioned. “It’s a wonderful piece of American history that might be gone forever,” he mentioned.
Mr. Anthony mentioned he had purchased the engraved card within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, with solely President Ronald Reagan’s signature on it. He then had it signed by Nancy Reagan, for whom he had labored as a speechwriter.
The Clintons signed it on the White House in 2001. The Fords signed it later that 12 months when Mr. Anthony visited them in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
He mailed it to George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, who mailed it again with their signatures and a cheeky notice from Mrs. Bush chiding him for amassing the signatures out of order.
George W. Bush and Laura Bush signed it throughout a joint interview they did with Mr. Anthony within the Oval Office in 2004.
In 2009, an aide in Michelle Obama’s press workplace took the cardboard from Mr. Anthony at a White House gate and carried it upstairs to the place the Obamas had been having dinner after which took it again right down to Mr. Anthony with their signatures.
After he had collected the cardboard with Mr. Biden’s signature on the White House Historical Association on Aug. 24, he mentioned, he walked throughout the road to Teaism. He was holding the manila folder gently, cautious to not crush the cardboard inside, he mentioned.
Mr. Anthony, who lives in Los Angeles, was in Washington to learn and signal copies of his newest biography, “Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy.”
After lunch, he walked alongside H Street to St. John’s Church. It was scorching, and he stopped inside for a relaxation and sat in a pew the place President Lincoln had sat, within the again nook.
He then walked to McPherson Square, the place he stopped to take {a photograph} of the equestrian statue of James B. McPherson, a Civil War basic, with birds perched on its head. It’s doable the signed engraving slipped on the market, he mentioned.
He continued to stroll to Thomas Circle, the place he stopped to take one other picture, this time balancing a bag of salty oat cookies from Teaism and the manila folder in a single hand and his digital camera within the different. He thinks that was almost definitely the place he dropped it.
When he acquired again to his resort room, at 1400 M Street, Northwest, he went to admire the engraving once more and noticed that it was gone.
He instantly went again to retrace his steps. He spoke to workers at Teaism and to a homeless man at Thomas Circle. Workers at St. John’s Church reviewed safety footage, he mentioned. Nobody had seen the cardboard.
Mr. Anthony posted a video about his misplaced assortment on TikTok, hoping that may assist.
He mentioned he was additionally providing a reward for its secure return, though he declined to say how a lot. He nonetheless hopes it is perhaps discovered, however is making an attempt to maintain his loss in perspective.
He mentioned he had written an inventory for himself, reminding himself that nobody had been damage or killed.
“I think I feel better having lost this myself than I would had it been stolen,” he mentioned. “And I remind myself that people lose all sorts of valuable things, including loved ones in floods and fires. I suppose, ultimately, on a certain level, this was just a piece of paper with signatures on it of people who were, and are, no more intrinsically valuable than any of us.”
Source: www.nytimes.com