(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) "Am I Not a Man and a Brother" wax seal fob. Relief image in red stone (carnelian?), 1 x ¾ inches oval, set into 1¼-inch gilt brass fob; minimal wear. London?, circa 1790s-early 1800s
Josiah Wedgwood created this design in 1787 for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Variants of the image remained central to the iconography of the abolition movement on both sides of the Atlantic through the 1830s. This device would have been intended to impress its design into the wax used to seal envelopes in the late 18th century, signaling the letter writer's support of the movement.
