469

John Hancock

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
John Hancock

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Auction Date:2013 Nov 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Rare Faneuil Hall lottery ticket dated June 1765, 3 x 1.75, boldly signed at the bottom in black ink, “John Hancock.” Ticket reads, in full: “Faneuil-Hall Lottery, No. Five. The Possessor of this Ticket (No. 3990) is intitled to any Prize drawn against said Number, in a Lottery granted by an Act of the General Court of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay for Rebuilding Faneuil-Hall; subject to no Deduction.” Matted and framed with a portrait of Hancock to an overall size of 8.5 x 12. In very good condition, with overall dampstaining affecting the appearance of the signature but not the boldness or legibility of ink, and a small central cancellation cut.

In Colonial times, lotteries were a highly regarded method of financing worthwhile projects—such as the rebuilding of Faneuil Hall, the famous Boston marketplace and meeting hall that had been destroyed in a 1761 fire. At the time, such money-making efforts were seen as investments, and were endorsed by local leaders, including John Hancock. Interestingly, Hancock would later come to disdain public lotteries as a method of fundraising, concluding that they encouraged gambling while producing meager results. Although thousands of such tickets were printed in Colonial America, not all were signed by Hancock, and only a small percentage of those signed examples have survived the centuries. This is an excellent example.