07:18 AM CST on Monday, February 27, 2006

Associated Press

AUSTIN -- A collection of historical items including exceptional documents marking the birth of the Lone Star State have been gathered for an auction dubbed the Texana Auction of the Century.

The Texas State Historical Association is auctioning 183 lots of rare artifacts to raise funds for a project to digitize all the books and magazines it has published since the late 19^th century.

Items up for bid include the gold and topaz ring Sam Houston gave to his wife, a Texas star medal awarded to Mexican generals and officers who survived the Texas Revolution of 1836 and a document signed by James Bowie two months before he was killed at the Alamo. The items have been valued at more than $1.2 million.

“This is the first time this kind of collection has ever been assembled,” said J.C. Martin, interim director of the association. “It’s extraordinary.”

Some collectors have donated items, while others are selling items on consignment and will receive a portion of the proceeds.

Live and silent auctions will be held at an association gala on Saturday at the Austin Convention Center, although bids are already being accepted online by Heritage Auction Galleries.

A collection of about 250 documents known as the Republic of Texas Legation Papers is expected to generate the highest bids.

The papers include letters; financial arrangements; proposals for Texas to be annexed into the United States; documents about boundary issues, American Indians and relations with Mexico; and the Treaty of Velasco, in which the independence of Texas was secured from Mexico.

The papers, whose owner is anonymous, have been appraised at more than $1 million, but the Texas State Historical Association isn’t selling them.

Rather, it proposes that someone buy the rights to display the papers at a state-approved institution for five years. Then the collection would be placed in the permanent care of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. It expects the privilege to fetch at least $250,000.

Dorothy Sloan, an Austin dealer of rare books, manuscripts and maps, said the Legation Papers aren’t already in state hands because they’ve been passed down through private owners for nearly 200 years.

“They went from one secretary of state to another, until they went to Sam Houston, when he was a representative from Texas to the U.S. Congress,” she said. “He never turned them in, then they went astray. They kind of surfaced here and there over the years.”

The Texas State Historical Association has published books since 1917 and the Southwestern Historical Quarterly since 1897. It also produces “The Handbook of Texas,” an encyclopedia of Texas history in book and online form.

Martin said the auction will help the association create a searchable database containing all the information it has published over the years.