When I was at the Christie outdoor antique show this past weekend, I purchased a collection of old mortgage papers. They are all very worn, with frayed edges and well-creased folds. The papers themselves are very soft and pliable, smooth to the touch.
There were at least 30 pieces of paper in the large Ziploc bag I bought, the oldest one (the blue one on the right in the above photo, a portion of which is shown in the image below) dates back to October 22, 1864. (I am assuming the brown spot is ink but I suppose it could be blood, who knows?) The "newest" piece is from 1940.
I love the various examples of calligraphic handwriting.
And the embossed seals that are attached to only a few.
One of the pieces of ledger paper even had this amazing watermark.
Not everyone appreciates these old pieces of paper, each of which tells a story about hardworking people who wanted to own land or a building and paid good money to the bank to do so. Who may have grown old on that same land or under that roof, such a long time ago. I am looking forward to examining each one of these pieces of paper slowly, savouring each small detail of a life once lived in days of old.
Day 22/30 - #artfuladventures with Nathalie Kalbach
Day 58/100 - 100dayproject
1 comment:
What an awesome find ! I do have some bank paper work as well from a bank in Scotland and it is so interesting to look at and think aout the stories behind them, wishes and hopes.
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