Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 35

Manuscript and Collectibles Auction

Black History

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 401		1724 Free Negro Colonial Document. Exchange document between the town of Tivorton, Rhode Island, and "Jo Woodel, negrew," 4x8¼", Tivorton, 23 April 1724. Very good; toning and age wear. Exchanging a right of way through a swamp for "a good and conveniant way threw sd Jo Woodels Land." A true copy of the decision taken "…at a meeting of the purchasers and proprietors of the lands in Pocaset purchase alias Tiverton…" Rare mention of a free Negro in a colonial document. Matted and framed to 10¼x13½". Estimated Value $600 - 800. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $372
Lot 402		1730 Bill of Lading For A Slave Girl. Partly-printed 5x9½" shipping document listing "one Negro Girl on the Proper acct & Risque of Thomas Oxnard"as freight on the ship Merrimack, bound from Barbatos to Salem, Mass., 7 Aug. 1732. The freight charge is three pounds five shillings Boston currency. In the margin is the description: "a piece of lead markt T O & lynd wth aps of tape round her neck." A manuscript "mortality excepted" note shows no liability should the slave girl die. Signed by Capt. Edmund Gale. On 11 Sept. 1732, the owner signed on verso, "Recvd the Negro wth.in mentiond & paid the Freight." A chilling document. Very good; toning and small expert repairs. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $2,530
Lot 403		1766 Appraisal For A "Negroe Girl named Phillis". A neatly-penned Philadelphia document, 7½x12", dated 14 April 1766, showing an account balance of Robert Elton with Thomas Hart. One of the items listed is "To a Negroe Girl named Phillis appraised at £30." Fine condition. Estimated Value $200 - 300. Mary Gardner estate. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 404		1778 Revolutionary War Slave Document. Document written and signed by Charles Hurst, on laid, watermarked paper, 7½x9¼", no place, 8 May 1778. "Mr. John Vanderin Junr. Bought of Charles Hurst a Negro man named Jack belonging to my Bro.r Timothy Hurst who is now in England for Three Hundred Acres of land part of two Thousand acres which Mr. Vanderin is Intitled to…as by Agreement of Twenty third of August 1776 ye said Charles Hurst warranties him against Timothy Hurst or any other Person." Boldly written and extremely rare. Estimated Value $1,500 - 1,750. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 405		1811 Slave Manumission. Document by which Isaac Stidham and Ann Shields "free our Negro Girl named Hetty aged Fifteen years…on condition that she…become bound by Indenture…for the term of Thirteen Years….," 2pp, 13x8" (New Castle County, Delaware), 10 Dec. 1811. Fine; minor blemishes only. Stidham and Shields were probably Quakers, and even though Quakers frowned upon slavery, conditional manumissions such as this one kept the former slave in bondage for years. Estimated Value $400 - 500. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $230
Lot 406		1840 Letter on Slavery and the Election of William Henry Harrison. A 2-page letter from Tennessee to a man in Tuscaloosa, Al. In part, "I shall be a peaceable citizen under Harrisons administration, if he fulfils half the promises that Southern wiggs make for him….Our negroes are more licentious than I ever knew them to be….there is among them an expectation that they will be freed if Harrison is elected…we get little or no work from them, and if we even speak correcting them they run off…." More interesting content. Very good; fold tear and toning. With the August 12, 1864 issue of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Estimated Value $250 - 350. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 407		Lynching Photo, Marion, Indiana, August 7, 1930. Postcard photograph showing two young black men hanging from the same tree, as a crowd of white people mill about below, some smiling and one pointing. Postcards such as this were once common, even after the U.S. Postal Service banned "violent" mail in 1908. Between 1880 and 1930, a black Southerner died at the hands of a white mob more than once a week. This is the reality of racism. A Los Angeles Times article (27 Aug. 2000) on the history of these cards is included. Estimated Value $500 - 600. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $489
Lot 408		Revolutionary War-date Slave Bill of Sale. Receipt written by "John Vanderin jun," 5¼x7¾" (Philadelphia), 29 Nov. 1778. Acknowledging receipt of 400 pounds from Dr. Samuel McKenzies "for a Negro man named Jack being the same negro that I purchased of Mr. Charles Hurst." Boldly written on laid paper. Revolutionary War dated slave documents are uncommon. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 409		Washington, Booker T (1856-1915) American educator; born a slave; head of Tuskegee Institute. Typed Letter Signed on Tuskegee letterhead, 1p, 10½x8", Tuskeegee, Ala., 23 Dec. 1902. Very good; faint ink transfer and addressee has been cut out. Regarding circulars being sent to San Diego for a meeting Washington will hold there. Estimated Value $200 - 300. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $115
Lot 410		Washington, Booker T (1856-1915) A former slave who founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881; he became recognized as the nation's foremost black educator. Signature with the closing of a letter and his title, 1¼x8", n.p., n.d. Fine. Estimated Value $150 - 300. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold