Mar 28, 2019 - Sale 2503

Sale 2503 - Lot 39

Price Realized: $ 4,940
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Charleston slave tag. Metal tag, 2 x 2-inch diamond shape with hole punched in upper corner and embossed lettering reading "Charleston 1860 servant 1237"; dark patina, worn with corrosion causing a few pin-sized holes. Tastefully matted and framed with an explanatory note; not examined out of frame. Charleston, SC, 1860

Additional Details

Slave registration tags were used in Charleston, SC from the late 18th century through 1865. The present example was issued to a household servant shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War; they would have been required to wear the tag around their neck while hired out to another owner. mounted with--a 1790s British abolitionist token reading "Am I Not a Man and a Brother" and an 1838 token reading "Am I Not a Woman & a Sister."