Bidder to pay $70,000 for Young's will
Auction among 5 online and on phone lasts 2 to 3 minutes
The buyer, who requested anonymity from the Alderfer Auction Co., will pay a 15 percent buyer's premium for handling fees, which puts the total price of the will at $80,500.
Five people participated, placing 15 bids. The first bid started at $25,000 and was placed through eBay Live Auctions. The other four bidders, from Utah, California and Florida, placed bids over the phone. From start to finish, bidding lasted two to three minutes, starting with $2,500 increments. Once the will price reached $50,000, bids were done at $5,000 increments.
Bob Lucas, a consultant for Alderfer, said five bidders is a "pretty good number" of people interested in the piece.
"There are not that many people that compete in that realm," he said. "They're going to have to love history, love Mormon history. You need a person that has all those elements: interest and money."
It is unknown whether the buyer or the other bidders were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but Lucas said the buyer's interest was probably historical.
"The will itself is known," he said. "It's a known entity. It's not something that's shocking news. There are no surprises in this. The historical beauty in this is that Brigham Young touched it, Brigham Young signed it."
By the time bidding ended, the will was viewed on eBay more than 1,100 times. Although Lucas didn't have an exact number, he said many people called inquiring about the will, and some came into the auction house for private showings.
"It's kind of a benchmark now," said Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City, which sells and appraises rare and out-of-print books. "It's something to measure all Brigham Young documents."
Bench said the selling price is the most he has seen for any original Young document. He said letters with Young's original signature go for $5,000 to $10,000 and sometimes more, depending on the content.
Because there are so many clerical copies of the manuscript, there was a lengthy and detailed process to prove authenticity of the will, Lucas said. First, the document is checked for inconsistencies from the time period, such as paper, ink, printing or folding. Next, signatures are compared. In this case, 35 examples of Young's signature were used to match the 12 signatures and nine initials on the will.
"He has a very distinctive signature," Lucas said, noting that the 'B' at the beginning of Young's name and the 'g' at the end are especially unique.
Comments
- Turkoglu agrees to join Blazers 5:26 p.m.
- Marriage to America takes work 4:55 p.m.
- Protecting 'conscience clauses' 4:55 p.m.
- Matriarchs of American independence 4:55 p.m.
- Skateboard ministry spreads Word 4:55 p.m.
- Churches in the News 4:55 p.m.
- Religion around the world 4:55 p.m.
- Daughter aims to heal church 4:55 p.m.
- Musician, Utah group to join forces 4:50 p.m.
- BET Awards help cable compete 4:50 p.m.
- Harpring unsure about his future
- U. quarterback set to take his place
- Lack of Obama photos concerning
- Y. gets verbal from cornerback
- Millsap's potential suitor list smaller
- Utah to host $1.9B NSA spy center
- Palin resigning as governor
- Price hopes to remain in Utah
- Pratt and patriotic betrayal
- Jazz plan to re-sign Millsap
- Boozer not opting out of contract
180 - Letters: Stop anti-Obama letters
109 - Lack of Obama photos concerning
91 - Korver stays; what about others?
91 - Utah leaner in too-fat country
90 - Editorial: A sad day for Utah
85 - Jazz plan to re-sign Millsap
81 - Letters: Obama no Marxist
77 - Palin resigning as governor
66 - Letters: Obama resembles tyrant
65
"So what else is new?" What's new is that while pleas in abeyance, ankle...
What have Palin done to be considered the next President? Mitt 2012!
I believe that they were walking on a bridge, and the boy fell in, it wasn't...
Is it because he smokes?
Price gives the jazz the best chance to win every game playing in mixed line...
Once again, the legislature's failure to enact stronger anti-gang legislation...
As reported by the New York Times, according to a Senior Official of the...
Flake: Was the dumb Governor as US President you refer to from Arkansas?
RE: Linus | 8:59 a.m. July 3, 2009 --Very well said. BYW, the reason there...

You can be the first to comment on this story.