An $800 cheque worth $25,000

Yes, the cheque pictured here, though only written for a sum of $800, is today worth an estimated $25,000.

Image retrieved from http://www.cross-check.com/

And if you look at the signature, you’ll immediately know why.

Yes, that’s the Great Emancipator’s signature. President Lincoln wrote this cheque to “self” to draw out some cash just 2 days before he died.

$800 was a LOT of money back then, so it’s believed Lincoln took out the cash to pay some of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s debt. She was an extravagant spender.

This cheque was found in a vault of the Huntington Bank back in 2011.

Huntington acquired Union Commerce Bank…and tons of boxes…all the way back in 1983.

But the boxes stayed in a vault, unopened for nearly 30 years.

And Abe wasn’t the only famous cheque writer they found in the vault.

They found cheques from Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas

Jefferson, Susan B. Anthony and SIXTEEN US presidents.

Including George Washington!

It was such an amazing historical find that it went “on tour” soon after it was discovered.

Something tells me the discovery of George W. Bush’s credit card statement 200 years from now won’t cause nearly as much excitement!