Mar 26, 2015 - Sale 2377

Sale 2377 - Lot 392

Price Realized: $ 562
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
PARODY OF THE 54TH REGIMENT SOLDIER CROW, THOMAS N. & JAMES N. Dancing 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment Trooper (supplied title). Articulated black doll, 8 inches tall, with original paint suggesting the uniform of a black soldier. Lacks arms and lower portion of one leg; damage to head. sold as a 'relic.' Np, 1863
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Additional Details

Patented 1 December, 1863, this was clearly a parody of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. This dancing 'jigger' toy, along with a host of derogatory engravings, trade cards, etc, was part of a concerted effort to marginalize the black troops that Lincoln had authorized use of in the Fall of 1863. Thomas and James Crow's dancing jigger toy, patent No. 40,740 copyrighted the use of 'a negro or any other human figure.'