Apr 15, 2021 - Sale 2564

Sale 2564 - Lot 197

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(COLONIAL WARS.) Horatio Sharpe. Letter expressing Maryland's reluctance to trade with the Six Nations. Letter Signed. 2 pages, 12 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches, on one sheet; moderate wear, tape repairs along folds. Annapolis, MD, 28 March 1763
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Additional Details

This letter was written as governor of Maryland, and is apparently addressed to Sir William Johnson, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Sharpe writes a few months after the extended peace conference held with the Six Nations tribes at Lancaster, PA. Apparently, the Six Nations had made some kind of trade overtures with the Maryland colony. Sharpe discusses his formal response (not included), and asks Johnson to send it to the Six Nations along with a wampum belt. Sharpe doesn't sound optimistic about the trade prospects: "As no Indian trade hath been carried on from this province for some time, it would not be possible for me to purchase any wampum here, and indeed . . . the postage of it would amount to more than a belt's value. I do not think our Assembly will ever be persuaded to cultivate the Indian friendship."

Provenance: Sotheby's sale, 23 April 1982; Swann sale, 15 September 2011, lot 115.