(GUATEMALA) Estevez Síerra Josef Autograph Letter Signed to

Sale 2223 - Lot 317

Price Realized: $ 540

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(GUATEMALA.) Estevez Síerra, Josef. Autograph Letter Signed to Joaquín de Plasa y Ubílla. 6 pages (12 x 8 inches) on 2 sheets, stitched; early stab holes and minor foxing. Verapaz, Guatemala, 27 September 1779

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A letter reporting on the widespread illegal English settlements in the northern part of Guatemala. The English had a legal settlement under Spanish sovereignty in nearby Belize, and these unruly settlers had started expanding along the nearby Guatemalan coast. England and Spain were on the verge of war, as Spain had just allied with rebels in the American Revolution. Spanish authorities had a keen interest in the extent of English strength in the area. Two days previously, British ships had made a preliminary assault on the fort at San Fernando de Omoa, although Estevez writing from Verapaz apparently did not know this yet. The following month, British troops would seize the fort.
Estevez Sierra had spent considerable time in the region, and also interviewed some of the soldiers at the Omoa fort. He describes settlements of hundreds of Englishmen and their slaves, living on well-tended ranches and harvesting timber. Provenance: Maggs "Bibliotheca Americana et Philippina" catalogues of 1923 and 1928 (with date incorrectly transcribed); estate of Maury Bromsen.