While others will be out Friday battling the hordes at the malls, there are those that choose a different shopping venue for the Thanksgiving weekend.

They will be attending the sale of George Hoffman’s Presidential Memorabilia Collection, which will go on the auction block at Garth’s Auctioneers & Appraisers. The collection will be among items to be sold at Garth’s 49th Annual Thanksgiving Americana Auction.

Perhaps the most significant piece of Lincoln memorabilia in the collection is the Lincoln Funerary Wreath, which was placed on the breast of Abraham Lincoln when he laid in state in Columbus in April 1965.

Dr. Godwin Volney Dorsey, then treasurer for Ohio and a Lincoln supporter, purchased the wreath after the viewing. Hoffman acquired it in 1975.

Hoffman, former owner of Bun’s Restaurant, is the great-grandson of George Frederick Hoffman, the man who opened Bun’s as a bakery in 1864.

Hoffman said he had been active in politics since he was 12. A Republican, he was county chair for 20 years also serving on the election board. He attended two national delegations.

It was 40 years ago, he said, that his mother’s doctor gave him a picture of Abraham Lincoln, prompting his interest in Lincoln memorabilia.

“If I get two of one thing, I start a collection,” he said.

Hoffman displayed much of his collection on Lincoln and the Civil War at Bun’s. And then, when he moved, took his Lincoln items with him.

His retirement plans prompted his decision to depart with most of his collection. “So it is with much regret that I decided to let the Lincoln things go. I’m 85 years old; it’s time to start unloading,” he said.

But, he admits, he will be keeping about 15 to 20 items.

“I guess I am what they call a pack rat in the antique business,” Hoffman said. Among items he will retain are the first picture he ever got, a few Lincoln items done in wax, a painting on ivory and a large picture that came from Lloyd Ostendorf, one of the premier collectors and authorities on Lincoln.

“I had a varied collection. I had statues, watercolors, oils and lithographs,” Hoffman said, including about 250 books on Lincoln. He added while many of the items up for auction will bring in a respectable price, he has been told the Lincoln wreath could bring in up to $10,000. “If two want the same thing, the price goes up. If four or five want it, it could go even higher.”

Jeff Jeffers, CEO of Garth’s, confirmed there is strong interest in the wreath.

“Attention as you would expect,” he said, adding he doesn’t recall a presidential or historical item of such a significance being put up for auction here before.

Interest in the wreath has spurred media stories from around the nation. Hoffman said he even received a letter recently requesting he withdraw the items and donate them to a college.

“I am hearing from people I’ve never heard from before,” Hoffman said.

He said he will not go to watch the items be sold.

“It will be hard to see things go for less than I wanted,” he said.

Yet even now, Hoffman still goes to sales every weekend.

“I will continue to collect things,” he said. “I will probably collect more Lincoln as I see it.”

The auction will begin at 2 p.m. Friday and continue at 10 a.m. Saturday at Garth’s, 2690 Stratford Road, Delaware. A preview will be held from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday.

lrobertson@delgazette.com