Paul Revere autograph document signed ("Paul Revere"). One page, 7.25" x 3", Boston; December 24, 1813. An exceptionally scarce autographed memorandum by Paul Revere acknowledging receipt of his property on Lynn Street and Fosters Lane in Boston, the location of his famous iron and brass foundry where his earliest bells were cast. It reads, in full: "Memorandom [sic] This day attended the deputy Sherriff Shubal Bell; to receive, and did receive the land and buildings, on Lynn Street and Fosters Lane, which I sold to Rice & Savage some years since." Boldly signed with his signature flourish, "Paul Revere." While Paul Revere (1735-1818) is best remembered for his "midnight ride" of April 18-19, 1775, immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Paul Revere's Ride, he was a copper engraver and silversmith by trade, and he returned to his antebellum occupation of metalworking after the Revolutionary War. In 1787, using profits from his silverwork, he opened the iron and brass foundry on Lynn and Foster Streets, where he produced fastenings used in the building of ships and cannons, moving on to bell casting by 1792. Early city records for Boston confirm the property as the location of the foundry. Revere is listed as the owner of a "bell and cannon foundrey [sic], Lynn-street" in a 1796 directory of city, and again in the 1798 tax records for Boston, which records, "Paul Revere, occupant and owner, A Lott of Land on which is a Foundry, 40 by 46. Situated Northerly on Lynn Street; Westerly, Fosters Lane...valued at 750 Dollars." In 1801, he opened America's first copper rolling mill in Canton, but he continued to use the original Boston foundry until 1804 when it was damaged in a hurricane. From there it is difficult to ascertain for a certainty, but sometime after 1804, Revere sold the property to Rice & Savage (who owned a large majority of the wharf front land at that time), only to recover it again in 1813 as this memorandum illustrates. A truly excellent example of a document entirely handwritten and signed by the American patriot regarding his famous foundry. It is accompanied by an engraved portrait of Revere in profile by [Samuel] Hollyer. Reference: A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing the Statistics of the United States; Direct Tax of 1798, as assessed on Boston. Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, 1890 Page 4; A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing Miscellaneous Papers. Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, 1890. Page 277. Condition: Two small areas of dried adhesive at upper corners on verso, presumably indicating prior mounting. Light scattered foxing and soiling. Vertical folds cross signature. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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