Lincoln's Profit Margins

Lincoln's Profit Margins is an unmarked Fallout 3 quest.

Detailed walkthrough
The artifacts of Abraham Lincoln found in the Museum of History can be sold to various people in the Capital Wasteland. Besides selling them to "normal" traders for their item value, certain characters will pay increased prices because of the artifacts' historical value or symbolic meaning.

These characters are Hannibal Hamlin, leader of the ex-slaves at Temple of the Union; Leroy Walker, leader of the slavers who occupy Lincoln Memorial; or Abraham Washington, a historian and curator of Rivet City's Capitol Preservation Society.

Item locations
All nine artifacts can be found in the Museum of History. The letters refer to locations on the map to the right.

Lower halls

 * Lincoln's diary is found when the Lone Wanderer first goes up the steps in the large display room on the way to the Museum of History offices, lying on the first display to the right. The diary might not be on the display so be sure to examine around the general area.

Offices, first floor

 * Lincoln's Hat is found in a room on the 1st floor of the Museum of History offices. The room is the first door to the right from the entry stairwell and has a collapsed ceiling (one can also drop down into it from the second floor). The hat is on the floor among the rubble (to the right of the desk on the left when entering the room). It may be hard to spot with the shadows, make sure the Pip-Boy light is on.
 * Action Abe action figure is behind the Very Hard locked door along the left in the eastern hall to the archive room on a desk in the southwest corner of the room, close to the turret control terminal. The room may also be entered through a hole in the wall in the next room on the left.
 * John Wilkes Booth wanted poster is in the farthest southwest corner of the level, on the third shelf up of the last bookshelf.
 * Civil War draft poster can be found in the southeast corner on the top shelf of the bookcases one can see when looking westwards. It seems that the poster can fall to the ground as well. Check both the top shelf and the ground (at random, Lincoln's Voice can be found here instead).

Offices, second floor

 * Lincoln's voice is found on the second desk to the left at the top of the stairs.
 * Lincoln Memorial poster is found on the wall behind the first desk at top of the stairs. This will not spawn until one has started the Head of State quest.
 * Antique Lincoln coin collection is found on a bookshelf in a room on the right side of the offices. Ascend the stairs in the archive room, turn right (east), go into the first room one finds, and the collection should be on a bookshelf one can see while facing westward (or it might have dropped to the floor near the desk).
 * Lincoln's Repeater is found in a display case, next to a Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual. Go up the stairs in the archive room, go through the big hole in the wall at the end of the room, then turn left before the door. Activate the display and take the repeater (position the cursor correctly).

Value
A successful speech check almost always doubles the price paid for the artifacts. In Abraham's case, a high Barter will double the offer.

There is no way to get back any items sold to Abraham Washington or Leroy Walker, except for the Lincoln Memorial poster. One can, however, steal back the items one sells to Hannibal.


 * Highest payouts are underlined and bolded.

Bugs

 * With a high Barter when selling Lincoln's voice to Washington, the high Barter option will be "Make it 80, and you have a deal" even though the player still gets the expected 120 caps in the end.
 * With a high Barter when selling John Wilkes Booth wanted poster to Washington, the high Barter option will be "Make it 90, and you have a deal" even though the player still gets the expected 140 caps in the end.