(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) Pair of Middle Passage slave shackle

Sale 2271 - Lot 4

Price Realized: $ 6,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500

(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Pair of "Middle Passage" slave shackles. Wrought iron, with a 19 inch long bar, to which are attached two circular wrist pieces, 3-1/2 inches in diameter; smooth and even pitting and oxidization consistent with age and material. Np, 1750-1800

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Additional Details

A pair of shackles of the sort used during the cruel "Middle Passage" from Africa to the Americas; large, probably meant for a strong man. Images of shackles like these can be seen in numerous early anti-slavery books and later histories. For specific examples see: An Abstract of the Evidence (London, 1791); Lydia Maria Child's "Appeal in Behalf of that Class of Americans call Africans" (Boston, 1833) and Lorenzo Dow's "Slave Ships and Slaving" (Salem, 1927).