Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 7

Price Realized: $ 10,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION--RESTRAINTS AND PUNISHMENTS.) Wrought iron slave collar. Two pieces of semi-circular hand-wrought iron, joined together by a fixed 'hook-in-eye.' At each end, of the two pieces, is another hook-in-eye into which is fitted a primitive, but effective locking mechanism; the outer surface of the two pieces has been incised with a repeating semi-circular design. Deep South, circa 1800-1850's

Additional Details

a rare hand-wrought iron slave collar. Collars like this were usually used to restrain, but sometimes employed punitively. This collar bears designs along the wider edge not unlike the graphic symbols of West Africa. It is possible that the blacksmith who made this collar was of African descent, as was not uncommon on the plantations of the South. Provenance: a private collection.