Annual Tad Lincoln Bureau Research

[Tad Lincoln]

Each year I post where the research stands on a mahogany chest I bought at a West Virginia estate sale in November 2012. I believe the carvings were made by Tad Lincoln. The photos, the paper trail, and what is still unproven are all here:


https://thomastadlincoln.com


A short new video of the carvings is on the site now. Questions and disagreement are welcome.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I wish you would take one of those photos and highlight the carvings you are seeing. It would do well to point the untrained eye. Beautiful piece of furniture.

 

[Tad Lincoln]

 

[Tesorodeoro]

View attachment 2267842

What type of phone do you use (if you do not mind me asking)?

 

[Tad Lincoln]

What type of phone do you use (if you do not mind me asking)?

Not a phone....Sony ALPHA camera

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Not a phone....Sony ALPHA camera

You do not have a smartphone?

 

[Tad Lincoln]

You do not have a smartphone?

I live in a remote part of the country that still doesn't have a cell tower....So, no, I do not own a smartphone...

 

[Tad Lincoln]

I particularly like this image hidden under shellac...2 figures staring at one another....I believe I know who the figures represent....I'll leave that interpretation to the viewer...

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I live in a remote part of the country that still doesn't have a cell tower....So, no, I do not own a smartphone...

That’s too bad because the newer phones take very good macro photos.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Something like this would help your cause tremendously. Do you not know someone that has a cell phone? That took 50 seconds to do. It certainly points the observer towards the area where the “carvings” are located.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Can you post a picture of the entire carved name “TAD” or is it just the top of a carved “T” that you are seeing? Just trying to get a feeling for what this looks like. The images you have posted require some imagination on the part of the person seeing this for the first time. If you showed me the things you are seeing, I’d be glad to add arrows and labels to the images for the TreasureNet members.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I do see what could be two women facing each other. One holding what could be a package in front of her. That could also be Pareidolia on my part because we are all wired this way.

 

[Tad Lincoln]

Can you post a picture of the entire carved name “TAD” or is it just the top of a carved “T” that you are seeing? Just trying to get a feeling for what this looks like. The images you have posted require some imagination on the part of the person seeing this for the first time. If you showed me the things you are seeing, I’d be glad to add arrows and labels to the images for the TreasureNet members.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Thank you. I think you should include that on your website

 

[Tad Lincoln]

Thank you. I think you should include that on your website

GOOD IDEA!!! Working on it now...

 

[Tad Lincoln]

Update – October 2026

Thanks to everyone who has been following along. Here's where the research stands:

• I now have a printed lot list from the November 2010 Estate of Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith auction at Woodstock in Hartfield, Virginia. Bob Beckwith was Abraham Lincoln's last direct descendant.
• Lot 340 in that catalog is described as an "Empire Dresser, Mahogany, Protruding Drawer over Three Drawers, Scrolled Column, American, Ca. 1835-1850." That's very close to the form of my chest. The auction's online listing for it has no photo, and most of the Beckwith lots there are marked unsold.
• I've written to the auctioneer for photos and records of that lot. Nothing is confirmed yet, but it's the most promising lead so far.
• Still digging through 1867 Chicago newspapers on Mary Lincoln's furniture sale, which listed "Tad's chamber set," and through the 1972 Isham estate catalogs.

If anyone attended the 2010 Woodstock sale, or remembers an Empire mahogany chest with twisted columns from it, I'd love to hear from you.

More at thomastadlincoln.com​

 

[Tad Lincoln]

Update: the TAD carving under raking light (RTI)

I've added a new page to my site showing the TAD carving through reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), a technique museums use to study carvings and old inscriptions. With the camera fixed on a tripod, I took 35 photos, moving a flashlight to a different low angle for each one, with a shiny ball in the frame to record where the light was. Software then combines the shots so the carving can be re-lit from any direction, which shows the depth and shape of every cut. Thirty of the photos were usable.

What it showed: the letters were cut as V-shaped knife strokes with angled walls and ragged, torn edges. There's also a long, thin scratch running past the "A" and "D," and a few small dents nearby. Those were already visible in regular photos. It did not turn up any hidden letters, initials, or other marks, so I'm reporting that honestly too.

You can see the views here: TAD in Raking Light. If you want to play with it yourself, download the tad.ptm file from that page and open it in the free RTIViewer from Cultural Heritage Imaging. You can drag the light around and look at the carving from any angle. In the viewer the letters appear upside down, the way the camera saw them.

If anyone who knows period carving or tool marks wants to weigh in on the cuts, I'd welcome it.

Brian

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Update: the TAD carving under raking light (RTI)

I've added a new page to my site showing the TAD carving through reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), a technique museums use to study carvings and old inscriptions. With the camera fixed on a tripod, I took 35 photos, moving a flashlight to a different low angle for each one, with a shiny ball in the frame to record where the light was. Software then combines the shots so the carving can be re-lit from any direction, which shows the depth and shape of every cut. Thirty of the photos were usable.

What it showed: the letters were cut as V-shaped knife strokes with angled walls and ragged, torn edges. There's also a long, thin scratch running past the "A" and "D," and a few small dents nearby. Those were already visible in regular photos. It did not turn up any hidden letters, initials, or other marks, so I'm reporting that honestly too.

You can see the views here: TAD in Raking Light. If you want to play with it yourself, download the tad.ptm file from that page and open it in the free RTIViewer from Cultural Heritage Imaging. You can drag the light around and look at the carving from any angle. In the viewer the letters appear upside down, the way the camera saw them.

If anyone who knows period carving or tool marks wants to weigh in on the cuts, I'd welcome it.

Brian

That’s great. I had not seen the entire carving till this year. Now how about the rest of the drawings you see (but I cannot)? Is there any way to use the same technique on those.

By the way I appreciate the detailed description on the photography method you used. Great advancement over prior photos. I learned something today.