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Lot 18: John Jacob Astor Signed Letter 1796

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:720.00 USD Estimated At:1,200.00 - 1,600.00 USD
Lot   18: John Jacob Astor Signed Letter 1796
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>America's First Multimillionaire Okays Check!</b>

<b>JOHN JACOB ASTOR, Fur trader and financier; once the richest man in America.</b>
Autograph Letter Signed, 1p., quarto (8” by 10”), New York, July 16, 1796. To the “Cashier of the Affairs of the United States Bank.” In Choice Extremely Fine condition. “Sir,” Astor instructs, “Please to pay John Chapman’s drafts on my account and you will oblige, Sir, your Humble Svt.” Whatever business Astor had with said Chapman - were it in the fur trade, or the China market, or Astor’s first forays into Manhattan real estate - one thing is certain: Astor was not about to get the worst of the deal. His savvy, and his caution, were legendary.