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November 23, 2005

Slave's letter fetches top price at auction

NEW YORK -- A letter from a celebrated Colonial-era slave who lived in Providence sold for $220,000 yesterday at auction -- by far the highest price paid among 322 lots in the "Autographs" auction conducted by Swann Galleries.

The letter, which Swann had estimated would sell for $120,000, represented more than one third of the auction's total sales of $618,945 -- and fetched more money than signed documents of John Hancock, John Adams and George Washington combined.

The writer of the Feb. 14, 1776, letter was Phyllis Wheatley, the first person of African ancestry to publish a book inthe United States.

-- Journal staff writer Bryan Rourke

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 12:09 PM | Permalink