433.  FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Unique A.Ms.S. boldly signed "Franklin D. Roosevelt" as Governor of New York, 1p, 4to., Albany, on Executive Mansion stationery, [n.d. but ca. 1929], in full: "This famous bust of George Washington by Houdon, long the property of the State of New York, disappeared after the Capital fire in 1911, and is now recovered by the kindness and untiring efforts of Mr. Irwin Thomas...". In 1784 the Congress of Virginia passed a resolution to have a statue of President Washington made for the State Capitol. Governor Harrison authorized Thomas Jefferson, then minister to France, to select a European artist he considered worthy of this task. Benjamin Franklin was consulted and the choice fell upon Houdon, the foremost portrait sculptor of his time. Houdon's acceptance was immediate and enthusiastic, although the commission necessitated a trip to the United States and he would have to "leave behind unfinished statues of kings," as Jefferson reported back home. A copy of the Houdon life-cast was made by The National Fine Art Foundry in 1877. This was the first casting made directly from the original plaster model, which was left by Houdon at Mount Vernon. At the time of the 1911 fire in the Capitol, the bust disappeared from the reading room of the State Library and was not returned until 1921. In 1929, the long lost bust was returned to the state and presented to FDR in a ceremony at the Executive Mansion. This statement was almost certainly presented to the recipient at the ceremony. The bust then remained in the office of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt until 1941 when it was returned to the State Library for exhibition with the Washington manuscripts and relics. Fine.       $3,000 - 4,000