(NEW YORK CITY) Certificate of appointment issued to Thomas

Sale 2148 - Lot 277

Unsold

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

THE KING'S AGENT IN MANHATTAN (NEW YORK CITY.) Certificate of appointment issued to Thomas Byerly as Collector for the Port of New York. Partly-printed Document Signed on vellum, 349 x 419 mm. Creased, tax stamp partially removed, royal seal removed with some loss of vellum. Revenue stamp and early owners' inscriptions on verso. London, 1718

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Additional Details

very early New York customs document, appointing Thomas Byerly as Collector and granting him "power to enter into any Ship, Bottom, Boat, or other Vessel; As also into any Shop, House, Warehouse, Hostery or other place whatsoever . . . whereof the Customes or other Duties have not been duly paid; And the same to seize to His Maj'ties use." Signed by four of the royal customs commissioners at the Customs House in London: John Stanley, Thomas Walker, John Pulteney, and Charles Peers. Material from the earliest years of the New York customs office is quite scarce. No previous auction records have been found for customs appointments from any port dating before 1739.