Ahlborn, Lea Fredrika. (1826–1897). Autograph Letter Signed. Autograph letter signed of the noted Swedish artist and medalist to American author and numismatist Henry Phillips (1838–1895). Dated "Royal Mint, Stockholm, 28 August 1881." 3 pp. of bifolium, on personal letterhead paper with ornate monogram "LA." In German (Latin script). Signed in full. Writing bleeds through; splits repaired with plastic tape to the inside. 8.7 x 5.4 inches (21.9 x 13.8 cm.).
A response to a letter from Phillips, mostly dealing with matters of numismatics except for one paragraph: "As I presume that in Philadelphia [where Phillips lived] there is interest in everything concerning the first Swedish colony on the Delaware River in the 16th [recte: 17th] century, I send you a short article recently printed in a monthly journal with an illustration after an image from 1642 that depicts the first encounter of the Swedes with the Indians [natives] on the Delaware River."
Ahlborn was a pioneering woman. When she was appointed royal printmaker of Sweden in 1855, she was not only the first woman to hold that position but also the first female civil servant in Swedish history. In the same year she became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of the Arts. Later, the U.S. commissioned several medals from her, beginning with the medal of George Washington to commemorate the centennial of the end of the U.S. war of independence in 1883. It seems not unlikely that her correspondence with Phillips, of which this letter is part, paved the way for these commissions. It is also interesting to see German used as a lingua franca between a Swede and an American at the time.
Ahlborn, Lea Fredrika. (1826–1897). Autograph Letter Signed. Autograph letter signed of the noted Swedish artist and medalist to American author and numismatist Henry Phillips (1838–1895). Dated "Royal Mint, Stockholm, 28 August 1881." 3 pp. of bifolium, on personal letterhead paper with ornate monogram "LA." In German (Latin script). Signed in full. Writing bleeds through; splits repaired with plastic tape to the inside. 8.7 x 5.4 inches (21.9 x 13.8 cm.).
A response to a letter from Phillips, mostly dealing with matters of numismatics except for one paragraph: "As I presume that in Philadelphia [where Phillips lived] there is interest in everything concerning the first Swedish colony on the Delaware River in the 16th [recte: 17th] century, I send you a short article recently printed in a monthly journal with an illustration after an image from 1642 that depicts the first encounter of the Swedes with the Indians [natives] on the Delaware River."
Ahlborn was a pioneering woman. When she was appointed royal printmaker of Sweden in 1855, she was not only the first woman to hold that position but also the first female civil servant in Swedish history. In the same year she became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of the Arts. Later, the U.S. commissioned several medals from her, beginning with the medal of George Washington to commemorate the centennial of the end of the U.S. war of independence in 1883. It seems not unlikely that her correspondence with Phillips, of which this letter is part, paved the way for these commissions. It is also interesting to see German used as a lingua franca between a Swede and an American at the time.