No proof that "Lincoln hat" that Illinois-owned Abraham Lincoln Library paid $6.5 milliion was ever owned by Abe

The only thing Illinois is good at is wasting money. America's Venezuela owns the troubled library and museum.

From WBEZ:

A stovepipe hat that reputedly belonged to Abraham Lincoln is one of the most historically sacred objects displayed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, but there’s insufficient evidence to prove it ever actually belonged to the former president.

That’s the finding from a previously undisclosed FBI analysis and another report obtained by WBEZ. They were part of a highly secretive effort to authenticate the hat by the foundation charged with acquiring artifacts for the Lincoln museum.

The efforts by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation involved a DNA assessment by the FBI and a report by top curators from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and Chicago History Museum. Those historians ultimately encouraged the Lincoln museum to “soften its claim about the hat.”

The focus of all the attention is a beaver fur hat in Lincoln’s size. It is the $6.5 million centerpiece of a major $25 million acquisition of Lincoln artifacts in 2007 by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, a nonprofit that operates independently of the Springfield, Illinois museum.

The library and museum is seeking a state bailout from bankrupt-in-all-but-name Illinois.

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