(MARITIME) Small archive of merchant Henry DeKoven

Sale 2263 - Lot 178

Price Realized: $ 780

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

Estimate: $ 200 - $ 300

(MARITIME.) Small archive of merchant Henry DeKoven. 25 business letters addressed to DeKoven, most of them substantial, and 13 related documents (receipts, insurance documents, bills of lading, etc.); various sizes and conditions, typical for the period. Vp, 1817-41

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Additional Details

Henry L. DeKoven (1784-1840) was a ship captain who resided in Middletown, CT; he was one of the original incorporators of Wesleyan University there in 1831. The letters are written from ports all over the world, from New York to Batavia, Indonesia. An 1820 letter written from Amsterdam accuses DeKoven's associate Mr. Sebor (apparently a family member) of a fraudulent shipment of rice, described as "a crime of the blackest & most heinous nature." Also includes an 1826 bank order signed by future vice president Richard Mentor Johnson, and a receipt issued to DeKoven in Canton, China in 1826, written partly in Chinese. A privateer commission issued to DeKoven in 1841, however, appears to be a joke.