[LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865)]. Folk art log cabin depicting Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

Small wooden replica of a rough-hewn log home featuring an open framed front door, small framed window, and wide plank roof. 7 1/2 in. length, x 5 1/2 in. width x 6 in. height (light wear, several roof planks with small losses but overall good condition). No maker identification visible.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin on his family's "Sinking Spring" Kentucky farm on 12 February 1809. A replica of his birth cabin is currently housed in the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and, though the folk art version offered here lacks chinking, it still closely resembles the one at Kentucky's Lincoln Memorial landmark. Folk art items associated with the 16th president have long been popular, and have often utilized a log cabin motif as a way to symbolically identify Lincoln to his hardscrabble background and a frontier spirit. Items such as log cabin bookends, doorstops, still banks, and of course, the iconic "Lincoln Logs, " continued long after the president's death to function as reminders of how Lincoln's character was shaped by his humble beginnings.