Lot 272
(Besallion, Peter) An Indian Trader Buys A Slave. Document showing the double sale of a seven-year-old Negro boy named Cornwall, 2pp (1p both sides), 11¾x7½", Philadelphia, 19 and 24 June 1725. Very good; several small edge tears, not affecting the sharp, legible text. One side is a partly-printed form for the sale of slaves, by which Jonathan Jones sells young Cornwall to Philip Hilliard, a cooper by trade, for 20 pounds. The other side is a manuscript document by which Philip Hilliard sells the same young boy for a five pound profit five days later to "Peter Bizaillon of Chester County…Indian Trader…." Bizaillon (or Besallion) was a well-known and well-off Indian trader and translator, licensed by Pennsylvania, having arrived there around the same time as William Penn. He owned a half dozen or so slaves, of which the Quaker community disappoved, but which was approved by the Crown.
Estimated Value $900 - 1,200.
Mary Gardner estate.
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| Realized $518 |
