Smithsonian Buys Benjamin Franklin Suit; His 1778 Bust Reported Stolen in Penn.
- August 30, 2012 21:27
Donors have helped the Smithsonian purchase Benjamin Franklin’s three-piece silk suit worn on a pivotal diplomatic mission to France in 1778.
Once loaned by the Massachusetts Historical Society, the fragile suit is now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History permanent collection and will be carefully conserved in its new home.
Franklin's mission to France that year resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Alliance which provided the newly formed United States with needed supplies, guns and ammunition from France to fight the British in the American Revolution.
Just last week, a valuable portrait bust of Franklin, also dated 1778, was reported stolen from a private home in Bryn Mawr, Penn.
Police are searching for housekeeper Andrea Lawton, 46, a suspect in the disappearance of the life-sized bust of Franklin.
Made by the French neo-classical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, it is believed to be one of just four versions of the sculpture Houdon created in 1778 and 1779.
A 1779 version in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is valued at $3 million.
