Jimmy Carter memorabilia auction by The Friends of Jimmy Carter set for 17th includes shirt presented to Carter by Stephen Colbert

The Carter historical auction is scheduled to take place at the Plains community center from 4:30 to 9:00 pm. Kim Fuller, executive director of The Friend’s of Jimmy Carter, showed off the various pieces that will be available. 75 items will be up for bid online and during a live auction, conducted by auctioneer Tyrone Spearman. Fuller estimated an additional 29 items were available for a silent auction.

Fuller walked through the collection, noting a glass butterfly similar in design to the ones on display in the Rosalynn Smith Carter Childhood Garden in Plains. “We have one of the monarch butterflies, it’s stained glass, by Peter Hazel.” She told how the butterfly is one of 25 that were commissioned in addition to the ones that comprise the sculpture, and the one up for auction is number 10, with signatures of both Peter Hazel and Rosalynn Carter.

Fuller also showed a pair of cowboy boots worn by Rosalynn Carter, given to her in 1998 by Rocky Creed. Campaign buttons are also part of the collection, along with a few items bearing Jimmy Carter’s full signature.

When asked what item Fuller found most interesting, she picked out a Carter-Mondale poster filled with signatures on the reverse side, signed during the democratic convention the year Carter was given the nomination. When asked about the signees, Fuller, Rosalynn Carter’s niece, noted a few relatives. “Well you got Miss Allie, my grandma Carter, my Mom and Dad are on here, Zell Miller, he was a governor.” Fuller stated that several pieces in the collection came from the Betty Pope estate. “She was one of the original peanut brigaders,” Fuller noted, referring to the Georgia residents who traveled to other states in order to campaign for Carter when he was running for president.

The collection also features a shirt presented by Stephen Colbert, resting safely behind a frame. Emblazoned on the front are the words Still Constitutionally Eligibe.

A pen in a green case with a presidential seal is another piece of history. “This is a bill signer. This is one of the, a pen that he used to sign a bill. And this was given from a political collector.”

A matching green book titled Why not the Best? had also come with the pen, from the collection of Roger Van Sickle. Fuller told what made it valuable. “This is his very first book that he wrote.” The title is the same as Carter’s campaign slogan from before the presidency. Fuller told where Carter first came across it. “‘Why not the best’ came from Adam Rickover who was his commanding officer when he was in the Navy. And that was something that commander Rickover would say, ‘if you need to do something, why don’t you do your best?’”

Among the collection, there is also an old pine board, bearing a simple inscription that Fuller read aloud. “This old pine board came from Rosalynn’s birth-place built by her ancestors in 1833.”

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