Tomb Case 3

Silver Coffin Plate

The silver coffin plate shown here, engraved with “Abraham Lincoln 16th President United States Born February 12th 1809 Died April 15th, 1865” was secured to the lid of the coffin. As its centerpiece, the plate features an engraved funerary wreath and an ivy border. The silver plate remained on the lid of the coffin through all of the memorial ceremonies that took place in 1865.

During the construction and subsequent renovations of Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, his coffin was moved and reinterred on several occasions. Eventually, this led to the deterioration of the original coffin, which was replaced.

When the president was buried for the final time in September 1901, this original coffin plate did not accompany the new coffin, which was secured in a steel-reinforced concrete chamber beneath the tomb floor. In the summer of 1934, the coffin plate was transferred from the custody of the Lincoln tomb to the Illinois State Historical Library.