?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 300 - $ 450
(POP PHOTOGRAPHICA--SPANISH AMERICAN WAR) Silk pouch with ribboned corners enhanced with brass anchors and inset with a commemorative photograph of the U.S.S. Maine; when open reveals a brightly colored flag, a poem, brass ornamentation, and two slots for additional photographs. With two paperweights featuring photographic portraits of John Dewey, who was Admiral of the Navy during the Spanish-American War, sepia-toned silver prints, 2 inches (5.1 cm.) in diameter and 3 1/4x1 3/4 inches (8.3x4.4 cm.); inset in thick glass. 1898
The battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898; all told 252 seamen perished in the blast. An American board's finding that the vessel had sunk due to a landmine unleashed a wave of public outrage and fueled calls for war. Although the sinking of the ship was not the cause of the Spanish-American War, shouts of "Remember the Maine!" accelerated the diplomatic impasse over Cuba. On April 11, McKinley asked Congress for permission to intervene in Cuba and ten days later ordered a naval blockade of the island.
