?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 200 - $ 300
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Masi, Seraphim. Manuscript deed of "his negro slave, named or called John Giles . . . to serve for life." Document Signed, 3 pages, 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, on one sheet; separations at folds. Washington, DC, 19 April 1843
The seller, Seraphim Masi, was a successful silversmith who had crafted the official seal of the United States. The buyer was Amon Green, an auctioneer. The man being sold was possibly the John A. Giles who was still living in Washington in 1870, aged 55, and working as a waiter. His daughter Mary later became a teacher and married an A.M.E. minister.
