Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 192

Price Realized: $ 1,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
THE ONLY KNOWN PORTRAIT (BUSINESS.) CUFFEE, PAUL. Engraved silhouette portrait of Captain Paul Cuffee. 9-1/4 x 7-1/2 inches; large damp-stain through lower third, impinging on 1-1/2 inches of the actual engraving; could be washed. [Philadelphia, 1850]
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Additional Details

The only known portrait of Paul Cuffee, one of the most successful African American business men of the 19th century. His business took him up and down the North-Eastern coast and finally, in 1811 he traveled to Sierra Leone, where he'd hoped to establish a business that would involve trade between Africa and New England. This silhouette image commemorates that trip and his return in 1812; and while dated 1812, the Library Company of Philadelphia's Philip Lapsansky;'s research dates it to 1850. Sadly, Cuffee died in 1817 before he could return to Sierra Leone and establish a business.