Duane Beckett
When it comes to American history, few names carry more weight than George Washington. Owning something personally written by him might seem impossible, but for $10,000, you now have a chance to buy a piece that could be a centrepiece of any collection.
Before you get all excited, this isn’t some big framed letter or a presidential signature, it’s a tiny handwritten manuscript fragment being sold by the Philadelphia-based Raab Collection as a fixed-price private sale.
According to The Raab Collection, the writing is in Washington’s own hand and contains one strange line: “Fathers of the Senate!” The dealer says those four words do not appear in any other surviving Washington document, which is why this little sliver of parchment and ink is a big deal to serious collectors.
“Fathers of the Senate!”
The written phrase “Fathers of the Senate!” feels very Roman empire. It has a theatrical sound, as if Washington was addressing a room. It’s the mystery behind these words that make it so fascinating.
Raab’s own write-up floats possibilities like a discarded draft, a classical note copied during study, or a line pulled from a moment we simply do not have on record anymore. Each scenario is exciting, and enticing for any historian.
The question you may have is, why is it just a fragment? Interestingly, Fine Books Magazine has an answer. This surviving fragment was clipped from a larger Washington manuscript in the 1800s, tied to Jared Sparks. Sparks was an early historian and collector who is infamous for cutting up Washington papers and distributing pieces to autograph seekers.
Not an auction
One of the most interesting parts of this sale is that it is not an auction. The item has a fixed price of $10,000, which puts a genuine piece of American history within reach for more collectors than a traditional bidding war would.
The timing also feels significant. It comes just after Christie’s “We the People: America at 250” sale on January 23, 2026, which produced major results, including:
- $7.395 million for Rufus King’s annotated Constitution draft
- $6.785 million for a Lincoln-signed Emancipation Proclamation
- $5.687 million for a 1776 Declaration of Independence printing
In a separate sale, a George Washington portrait tied to the image used on the $1 bill also sold for $2.8 million.
Collectors continue to pay premium prices for antiques linked to major historical figures, which makes it even more surprising that this Washington item is still available.