Crews searching for Richmond Virginia Robert E. Lee statue 1887 time capsule

WillieBoyd2

There's a silver dollar in it.

Work crews were still searching Thursday morning for a time capsule they believed was buried inside the pedestal under a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that towered over Richmond, Virginia, for more than a century until it was taken down Wednesday.

A newspaper article from 1887 suggests that the copper time capsule contains mostly memorabilia, including a U.S. silver dollar and a collection of Confederate buttons. But one line from that article has piqued the interest of historians. Listed among the artifacts is a "picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin".

Yahoo News and Associated Press:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/confederate-statues-1887-time-capsule-050427985.html

ricko

That will be interesting.... IF they find it. Seems strange that it is not where it was purported to be.... I hope we get 'the rest of the story'. Cheers, RickO

MsMorrisine

Listed among the artifacts is a "picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin".

a macabre time capsule inclusion

Connecticoin

Maybe a 5th Confederate Half Dollar!

lclugza

Too bad they didn't put an 1887 proof set in there that included gold- the half eagle and double eagle are Proof-only date/mm combinations.

Namvet69

Shouldn't be too hard to find, if it wasn't swiped. Here's hoping we get to see the contents. Abe death image is intriguing. Peace Roy

Crypto

I would be shocked if a photo of any type that would have been exposed to temp swings at best and moisture at worst would survive that long

mr1931S

Shouldn't be too hard to find, if it wasn't swiped.

My money is on swiped.

DCW

This is the only known photo of Lincoln in his coffin:

I believe it was discovered long after his death, among the personal items from the photographer that couldn't bear to dispose of it.
I am intrigued by the way the Union soldiers, while standing guard, appear so melancholy at their posts. Makes me believe it was not staged.

amwldcoin

If it was in a copper box it seems like it would be easy to locate with a metal detector.

1630Boston

@ricko said:
That will be interesting.... IF they find it. Seems strange that it is not where it was purported to be.... I hope we get 'the rest of the story'. Cheers, RickO

.
.
Precisely
boston

Barndog

"taken down"

Coinscratch

@amwldcoin said:
If it was in a copper box it seems like it would be easy to locate with a metal detector.

I think you’re right even though detectors have limits. A coin is like 18 inches or 2 feet. But a large copper container might be good to 5 or 6 feet. Considering the thuggery involved I would be checking the local pawn shops. But I don’t live there, TG!

Hydrant

I wonder what's in it?

291fifth

@DCW said:
This is the only known photo of Lincoln in his coffin:

I believe it was discovered long after his death, among the personal items from the photographer that couldn't bear to dispose of it.
I am intrigued by the way the Union soldiers, while standing guard, appear so melancholy at their posts. Makes me believe it was not staged.

Is the soldier on the right Sherman?

ms70

It's probably stuck to the base of the statue and nobody looked there.

DCW

I do not think it is General Sherman, though it bears a striking resemblance.

oih82w8

Not sure about the validity of this excerpt;

"Jeremiah Gurney set up his camera on a narrow catwalk high above the building’s rotunda and took this breathtaking picture of the open coffin, with Admiral Charles Davis and General Ed­ward Townsend guarding either end. Though he had been dead nine days, Lincoln’s heavily em­balmed features were still recognizable.In its own time, the picture never came to light. When Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton learned of its existence, he ordered Maj. Gen. John A. Dix to seize and destroy all prints and negatives. Dix, however, sent one copy to Stanton, who spared it.Years later, Stanton’s son gave it to Lincoln’s former private secretary, John G. Nicolay. But not until 1952, rummaging through the Nicolay Papers in Springfield, Ill., did student Ronald Rietveld (later to become a Lincoln scholar) discover the sensational, long-lost picture—the world’s very last look at Abraham Lincoln."

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/7y1wsl/actual_photograph_of_abraham_lincoln_in_his_casket/

ReadyFireAim

I am intrigued by the way the Union soldiers, while standing guard, appear so melancholy at their posts.

Their arms folded posture is striking.
The man on the left appears to have something under his left arm...Hat?
I wonder who the busts are of.

1northcoin

@ReadyFireAim said:

I wonder who the busts are of.

One could probably visit the Capital's rotunda today and likely make a match.

TurtleCat

@MsMorrisine said:

Listed among the artifacts is a "picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin".

a macabre time capsule inclusion

Sensibilities were quite different then. It wasn’t as taboo a concept as it is to modern sensibilities. The Victorian era saw many photographs of deceased people as a way of memorializing them.

PipestonePete

From Stephan Lorant's exceptional book "Lincoln: A Picture Story of His Life".....


The photograph was taken on April 24, 1865.

WillieBoyd2

Crews end search for 1887 time capsule under former Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond

Crews in Virginia ended a daylong search Thursday after they were unable to locate a 134-year-old time capsule state officials believe is buried in the pedestal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that towered over Richmond for more than a century.

State officials were scheduled to remove the 134-year-old time capsule from the cornerstone a day after the large Confederate statue was taken down. But after removing more than half a dozen large, heavy stones, crews were unable to find it.

CBS News article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-e-lee-statue-virginia-1887-time-capsule-search-end

Some things are better left unfound.

mr1931S

There may have been no time capsule at all. Is there a document in existence that states a time capsule was placed?

PipestonePete

http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/news/rietveld.htm

WillieBoyd2

A poster on another forum found this:

The Richmond Dispatch newspaper of October 26, 1887 has a long list of items in the "Corner-Stone Box" including:

United States silver dollar 1886
Assortment of United States silver and copper coins
Assortment of United States fractional coins
Twelve copper coins
English penny of 1812

Confederate treasury notes
$1 Confederate note
Confederate buttons

Miss Pattie Leake, picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin

There are lots of Masonic items including a programme of the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine

The list:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038614/1887-10-26/ed-1/seq-1

WillieBoyd2

Crews may have found 1887 time capsule while removing base of Gen. Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, Virginia

CBS News article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1887-time-capsule-robert-e-lee-statue-base-richmond-virginia

Crews working to remove the pedestal where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee towered over Richmond for more than a century believe they've found a time capsule that was buried there in 1887. Governor Ralph Northam's office said it appears to be largely undamaged.

WillieBoyd2

The capsule was opened and the event was broadcast on television.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/us/virginia-lee-time-capsule-open-trnd/index.html

This New York Times article has a photograph of a book and a coin found in the time capsule.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/us/time-capsule-lee-statue.html
The coin appears to be a Great Britain Victoria Jubilee Shilling.