Whoa! All because it was sat in!
Well, yeah. When one thinks of all the people who sat for a Brady pic back in the day, pretty staggering group of people who touched that chair and, there are photo's to prove it. Robert E Lee, William T Sherman, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, U.S. Grant to name just a few. Another thing is, Lincoln purchased this chair in 1860 ( Built by American furniture maker Bembe & Kimbel around 1857 for the House of Representatives) and gave it to Brady as a gift because he didn't like the chairs in Brady's studio so, an incredible piece of 19th century history.
" 'There is perhaps no other single object that connects with so many important people, all prominent figures in 19th-century American history."