Catalog Archive
Auction 155, Lot 742

"[Vellum Manuscript Indenture]",

Subject: Indentures

Period: 1781 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
21.5 x 13.8 inches
54.6 x 35.1 cm
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This vellum indenture serves as testament to a one-year lease of a "messauage, burgage or tenement" in the amount of five shillings, signed August 17, 1781. The lease is between John Helmsley, a master mariner, and Mary Crosyer, both from Bridlington in the County of York. The indenture includes a red wax seal and a tax stamp.

The top of the indenture is cut in a jagged ("toothed") line, as was the common practice with indentures. The legal contract was duplicated on a single sheet, and then the copies were separated by a jagged edge, so that the two pieces could be fit together again to verify authenticity.

References:

Condition: B+

Light soiling.

Estimate: $80 - $100

Sold for: $60

Closed on 11/18/2015

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