LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18)– More than 400 pieces of Kentucky history will be on the auction block this weekend in Lexington. The items are from Helm Place, the home where Mary Todd Lincoln’s half-sister lived.
Helm Place sits off Bowman Mill Road in Lexington. The mansion is where Emilie Todd Helm and her children lived for four decades.
The items include beautiful china, fine art, and furniture. They are all pieces of Abraham Lincoln’s family history.
“It’s a massive mansion and it has a long history. It was built before the civil war, it was built by the Bowman family,” said principal auctioneer Chuck McKee.
Items on the auction block include fine art painted by President Lincoln’s niece Katherine Helm, as well as items that belonged to Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm, and William Townsend, a prominent Lexington lawyer who bought Helm Place in 1946.
The most historic items from the house have been given to museums, but that’s not to mean there’s not a direct Lincoln connection to any pieces up for bidding.
“You never know, but I think the significance of it is really the connection to the whole family, because the Todd family, the Helm family, both very prominent families in this area,” said McKee.
The auction is on Sunday at the Bluegrass Auction Showroom off Floyd Drive. The doors open at 11 a.m. and the auction begins at 1 p.m.
A preview day is being held Friday from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m..
All are open to the public. You can also bid online here.
