Museum-Quality History for Private & Institutional Collections.
Authentic historical documents, carefully researched and professionally presented. Every item is accompanied by historical context to help collectors understand not only what they are buying, but why it matters.
Original New Jersey Legislative Manuscripts on Quartering Troops, Military Logistics, and Admiralty Jurisdiction
1790 New York Land Patent with Original Great Seal – Governor George Clinton
Aaron Burr Signed! 1802 Princeton (College of New Jersey) Pledge List.
Sold at Sothebys for $232,000
1867 Civil War Deed
Antique Declaration of Independence
John Hancock ALS
Benjamin Franklin Printer
1775 British Troop Movements
1777 Pennsylvania Colonial Currency Printed By Dunlap
1709 Tatler
Original Broadsides - Declaration of Independence
Original Documents. Extraordinary History.
John James Audubon Originals & Re-creations
A founder's sketch
George Washington
What would you offer?
Drawn by George Washington Himself—A Rare and Fascinating Glimpse into the Mind of of a Future President.
Paper has been forensically tested and dates to the 1742 plus or minus 12 years.
We welcome your comments.
We welcome your offers.
Use the form below to make an offer before we go to auction.
Ben Franklin's Fire Company
UNION FIRE COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA. The Union Fire Company was the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia and more importantly, the first formed in the United States. Founded in 1736 by Benjamin Franklin, members were required to keep and maintain their own buckets and linen salvage bags to help douse flames and carry away the personal items of those exposed to the ravages of fire. Each member was further required to make and keep two lists of the names of each member of the company. One list was to remain posted by his bags and buckets; the other was to be carried and presented at all fire company meetings. This list was one of two lists belonging to Joseph Paschall, a member of Philadelphia's Common Council. At the time this list was made, Paschall was serving as the Union's clerk. The job of clerk rotated monthly between members, as did the position of names on the list. Since Paschall's name headed this list, he was the current clerk of the company. It most certainly was the list he carried with him as is evidenced by the folds in the paper. A lack of holes indicates that it had never been posted. Additionally, the list matches the sequence of members recorded in the manuscript minute book of the Union Fire Company now in possession of the Library Company of Philadelphia signifying that Paschal was the Company's first clerk.
Ben Franklin's Tombstone
Rarest Declaration Signer
Thomas Lynch, Jr. would become the second-youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. While Lynch's signature on the Declaration is his most famous, it is even more significant as one of 14 known documents signed by Lynch still in existence today. While most of the Declaration signers were lawyers and clerks, Lynch, a planter by trade, didn't generate much paperwork . Three years later, he and his wife would be lost at sea, thus, not many examples of his signature exist.
Presidents
Featured product
c1769 Exceptional Colonial New York Mortgage for Manhattan Waterfront Property – Abraham P. Lott – Witnessed by Abraham De Peyster
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Exceptional Colonial New York Mortgage for Manhattan Waterfront Property – Abraham P. Lott – Witnessed by Abraham De Peyster
A rare original eighteenth-century New York manuscript mortgage documenting the conveyance of an undivided one-half interest in a valuable waterfront parcel on Dock Street at Hunter's Key, extending to the East River in colonial Manhattan.
The document is executed by Abraham P. Lott, a member of one of New York's oldest Dutch families, in favor of William Astell, securing repayment of £600 New York currency.
Particularly desirable is the detailed legal description of the property, which identifies its location in the East Ward along the East River waterfront and names neighboring owners including Henry Cruger and Robert Murray, placing the property within one of colonial New York's principal commercial districts.
The document is witnessed by:
- Henry Duyvis
- Abraham De Peyster
The De Peyster family ranked among colonial New York's foremost merchant and political dynasties, producing mayors, provincial officials, and major landowners whose influence extended throughout the eighteenth century.
Highlights
- Original colonial New York manuscript.
- Manhattan waterfront real estate.
- Hunter's Key and Dock Street.
- Signed by Abraham P. Lott.
- Witnessed by Abraham De Peyster.
- Original seal present.
- Excellent genealogical and early New York research potential.
A highly desirable colonial New York legal document connecting two of the city's most distinguished early families and documenting ownership of valuable Manhattan waterfront property during the colonial era.
Where It Was
On Bernard Ratzer's magnificent 1766–1767 Map of the City of New York, Hunter's Key appears just south of what is now the South Street Seaport area.
Today the property would have been located approximately near:
- South Street Seaport
- Old Slip
- Pearl Street
- Water Street
- Fulton Street
essentially within today's historic Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The Neighbors
Henry Cruger
Henry Cruger (1739–1827) was one of New York's wealthiest merchants.
Remarkably, he later became:
- a member of the British Parliament
- while simultaneously serving as a representative of New York commercial interests.
His waterfront warehouses lined this section of the East River.
Robert Murray
Robert Murray was another prominent New York merchant.
His estate later became famous because his daughter,
Mary Lindley Murray,
famously delayed British General William Howe after the Battle of Harlem Heights in 1776, giving Washington's army time to escape.
Hunter's Key
Hunter's Key was one of several colonial wharves extending into the East River.
Merchants owning property there handled:
- Caribbean trade
- British imports
- flour exports
- whale oil
- rum
- sugar
- molasses
- shipping warehouses
This was literally among the most valuable commercial real estate in British North America.
Research Potential
Because your mortgage identifies:
- Abraham P. Lott
- William Astell
- Henry Cruger
- Robert Murray
- Hunter's Key
- Dock Street
- East Ward
- £600 mortgage
it should be possible to locate the exact recording in the New York County deed books.
That would provide:
- exact execution date
- Liber and page number
- complete legal description
- confirmation of all parties
- potentially earlier and later transfers of the same property.
