Feb 25, 2010 - Sale 2204

Sale 2204 - Lot 7

Price Realized: $ 600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 800
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) CUBA. Purchase of "Un Negro" by Maria de los Dolores Hernandez from Captain Thomas White of Charleston. Single small folio leaf of paper, folded, written on one side with notes on reverse; elaborate signatures of the notary and concerned parties; edges deckled and uneven with some foxing. Havana, 1805

Additional Details

A highly unusual slave sale document involving the sale of a slave to a Cuban lady. The slave, identified only as "a Negro," was probably an African who as yet had not been given a name. The slave was guaranteed to be "as is," employing the peculiarly Spanish expression, "Alma en Boca, Huesos en Costal," which means "Soul in mouth and bones in a sack," essentially: "what you see is what you get." This phrase, originating in Cartagena was particularly used with slaves who had come directly from Africa, not having been sold and re-sold.