Rare watercolor portrait of Edgar Allan Poe fails to sell at auction; 1 of 3 surviving works

Rare Edgar Allan Poe portrait fails to sell

BALTIMORE — A rare portrait of Edgar Allan Poe has failed to sell at auction.

The small watercolor by A.C. Smith is one of just three surviving portraits of the author and the only one that shows him as a writer. Poe looks robust and lacks the mustache that’s familiar from a series of daguerreotypes taken in the final years of his life.

The portrait went on sale Friday at Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. The minimum bid was $15,000, but no buyers emerged.

Owner Cliff Krainik tells The Associated Press he’s disappointed that it didn’t sell. He says he hopes he can find someone who’ll buy it and donate it to a museum. The portrait was shown publicly for the first time earlier this year in Baltimore.