Item Number: M00488

Item Title: Scarce Slave Tag for Mechanic 1804

Price: $5500

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: CS

Model:

Type:

Book:

Location Recovered: Laurel Springs Plantation

Description:These slave tags were hung around the neck of slaves hired out for work. They are only found marked Charleston or Charleston Neck. "Mechanic" is one of the scarcer trades to recover and used to fetch upwards of $10,000, but this is still a very good price for this one.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/copper-neck-tags-evoke-experience-american-slaves-hired-out-part-time-laborers-76039831/

Update: Just received word from a knowledgeable source that this is only the second known 1804 dated tag, and the other is a circular shaped one marked "Porter" which sold in the huge collection of tags at a recent Poulin Auction. There was an 1805 "Mechanic" one like this one.