**First Time At Auction**

Europe, England, ca. 1596 and 1672. A lovely ensemble of three legal documents from early modern England. The first vellum document dates from November 20th, 1596 and features 34 lines of black calligraphy in Old English describing the sale of a croft of land in Essex from John Jegon to his brother Thomas. A sizable "T" is inscribed at the beginning of the document, beautifully adorned with decorative curvilinear striations. Protruding from the bottom of the sheet is a rectangular strip of vellum that was used to secure the document, which is tied with a string and stamped with a red wax seal. The backside of the sheet exhibits 3 lines designating the owner of the document and the date and location which it was made, as well as 10 lines of Latin written in the opposite direction. The other two documents are receipts from 1672 for the purchasing of land by the same family. The smaller document is vellum. On one side it displays 12 lines of Old English and the signatures of the people the legal agreement is concerning, while on the other side it shows nine lines of Latin inscribed in English court hand, as well as the date 1672. Size of largest: 14.875" W x 11.25" H (37.8 cm x 28.6 cm)

Originally folded into sixths, the last document is paper. One half of the paper consists of 15 lines of Old English script, the signatures of the concerned parties, and a circular red wax seal bearing the image of a coat of arms with four birds. Written perpendicular to the main text in the area left of the central fold are 5 lines of script. This half of the page boasts and excellently preserved watermark of a shield topped with 5 petaloid flowers and decorated with an abstract motif and fleur de lis.

Accompanied by a modern sheet of paper describing the text on each.

Provenance: ex-Estate of Eldert Bontekoe, Pegasi Numismatics, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, acquired before 2000

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#159376

All have some light stains and fraying of edges, commensurate with age. Smallest has tear to upper left corner and two perforations on bottom center. Paper document has fold lines with two tiny apertures along one fold line. Otherwise, very nice with excellent remaining pigment.