HANCOCK, John.
John Hancock Autograph Document Signed.
Rare 1767 autograph document signed by John Hancock
$12,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-149510
* Custom Clamshell Boxes are hand made by the Harcourt Bindery upon request and take approximately 60 days to complete
Rare autograph document signed by John Hancock requesting payment for provisions issued to Troops in Nova Scotia. One page, the manuscript document reads, "Boston June 22d 1767 Sir, At Thirty Days sight of this my Third Bill/First & Second of same tenor and date not paid/please to pay to Messrs. Harrison Barnard & Spragg Merchts. in London on their order Three hundred & Twenty four pounds, fourteen shillings & three pence Sterling, being for Seventeen Thousand three hundred & Eighteen Rations of provisions issued to the Troops in Nova Scotia for the Contract I hold under you, as of Victualling Lists Transmitted to you by this offer from 19th January 1767 to the 12th April. I am Your most humbl Servnt John Hancock To Matthew Woodford Sr at Southampton." In very good condition, with uniform toning, and tears and small chips stabilized by archival restoration to the reverse. The document is trimmed to 7.25 inches by 4.5 inches. Mounted, matted and framed. The entire piece measures 20 inches by 17.5 inches. A desirable example of the most iconic signature in American history.
At the time the present letter was written, John Hancock was emerging as one of the most prominent and wealthy figures in colonial Boston, deeply involved in both commerce and increasingly, politics. As a successful merchant and heir to a prosperous trading business, Hancock had built a reputation for wealth and influence. At the same time, tensions between the American colonies and Britain were escalating, particularly with the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767, which imposed duties on imported goods such as glass, paper, and tea. Hancock, like many colonial merchants, opposed these measures, viewing them as an overreach of British authority and a threat to economic autonomy. While he had not yet taken on a leading revolutionary role, Hancock’s resistance to British trade policies and his growing association with figures like Samuel Adams marked the beginning of his transformation from merchant to political leader in the movement toward American independence. Hancock’s signature is widely regarded as the most iconic signature in American history. Bold, flamboyant, and prominently placed at the center of the Declaration of Independence, it has become a symbol of confidence, defiance, and patriotism. Hancock, as President of the Second Continental Congress, was the first to sign the document, and he did so with such size and flourish that legend claims he wanted King George III to be able to read it without his spectacles.
John Hancock Autograph Document Signed.
$12,500.00
In Stock
