Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 168

Price Realized: $ 1,188
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(NEW YORK CITY.) Pair of certificates issued to a New York City volunteer fireman. Illustrated engraved certificates, each about 20 x 15 1/2 inches, completed in manuscript; closed tears and tape repairs, minor foxing and edge wear, mount remnants on verso. New York, 1816 and 1826

Additional Details

Both of these certificates were issued to fireman Samuel Weekes or Weeks, whose membership is noted in "Our Firemen: A History of the New York Fire Departments," page 76. He was likely the same Samuel Weeks who lived in Manhattan and Long Island from circa 1787 to 1857.
The first piece is a membership certificate reading "These are to certify that Samuel Weekes is pursuant to law nominated and appointed one of the firemen of the City of New York." It was engraved in March 1807 by Peter Maverick after a drawing by Archibald Robertson, with a mythological scene featuring Poseidon and the caption "Voluntary Aid" above, and a stirring fire-fighting scene below. It was issued to Weeks for membership in Hook & Ladder Company #2 on 26 August 1816.
The second is a discharge certificate issued on 1 September 1826 reading "This certified that Samuel Weekes has served as a fireman the time prescribed by the law of this state." It bears the imprint "Drawn by Morgan & engraved by G.B. King from the designs of I. Scott, W. Nexsen, and P.W. Engs," and depicts a similar mythological scene above, with a grateful family outside a fireman's hall below. Both documents are signed by Jacob Morton as clerk of the common council.