Brian Ellison, of Reedy, poses with the chest of drawers he is trying to connect to Tad Lincoln, a son of President Abraham Lincoln. He acquired the piece about nine years ago at an auction where he also purchased a sideboard that belonged to the first governor of West Virginia, Arthur I. Boreman of Parkersburg. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — An antiques collector from Reedy is trying to connect a chest of drawers to Tad Lincoln, a son of President Abraham Lincoln.

Brian Ellison bought the antique at an estate auction about nine years ago, the estate of which was never divulged by the auction house in Clendenin, he said.

“He was a prominent Charleston politician,” Ellison said. “But they were not allowed to name who it was.”

Ellison hopes the chest of drawers belonged to Tad Lincoln, the fourth and youngest child of President Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. The boy, born April 4, 1853, died July 15, 1871.

“TAD” is carved into the American Empire flame mahogany chest of drawers, built between 1850 and 1860, Ellison said. Several other “etchings” are on the rear of the piece, too, that depict the president fishing, he said.

“TAD” is engraved into a chest of drawers Brian Ellison of Reedy hopes belonged to Tad Lincoln, the fourth son of President Abraham Lincoln. (Photo Provided)

No proof is available that it belonged to Tad Lincoln, he said.

“But there’s no way to prove otherwise it was not Tad Lincoln’s,” Ellison said.

Proving the chest of drawers was Lincoln’s would be difficult, said Madison Williams of Parkersburg, a licensed auctioneer and appraiser in West Virginia and Ohio. Williams has been in the business for more than 40 years.

Letters or other signed documents and documentation of ownership would be needed that unquestionably link the furniture to Lincoln, he said.

“That would be pretty hard to document,” Williams said.

President Abraham Lincoln and his son, Tad. (Image Provided)

The chest of drawers has a similarity to a child’s rocker in Lincoln, Ill., that belonged to Tad Lincoln, Ellison said. “TAD” also is carved into the back of the rocker, he said.

“Willie and Tad received pen knives when they moved into the White House,” Ellison said. “Their damage with these knives is well documented, especially the table and maps in the war room.”

It would not be the first time a piece of Lincoln memorabilia just turned up.

A bench mallet used by the president during the years the Lincolns lived in Indiana was kept as an heirloom by an Indiana family. The mallet was donated to a museum in 2016.

Ellison purchased a sideboard that once belonged to Arthur I. Boreman, the first governor of West Virginia, at the same auction where he bought the chest of drawers. He has been unable to develop the provenance for Lincoln’s ownership, although he is confident the piece belonged to Lincoln.

It’s time to find out for sure, he said. Ellison is willing to sell the chest of drawers to someone who is willing to spend the money to research the provenance.

“I’ve been sitting on this thing for some time now,” Ellison said.

A story could jar someone’s memory, Ellison said.

The piece was probably made in the Ohio Valley in the mid 1850s, Ellison said. If the chest of drawers is eventually determined to be Tad Lincoln’s, it would be priceless, he said.

“A recent auction of a desk used by the first governor of Kentucky went for over $1 million,” Ellison said. “To have a piece of furniture with etchings of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of little Tad would be priceless.”

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com