EARLY 18TH CENTURY BRITISH INDENTURE, 

DATED 1713 LAND TITLE, LARGE VELLUM 

PARCHMENT FOLDED DOCUMENT, 

WITH THREE SIGNED PRESSED 

WAX SEALS

Signed: John Hamorsby & Isaac Bentley (w/a third witness)

(Dated 1713)

Early 18th century original British legal 

indenture documents

DIMENSIONS:

 23 ½" Height x 30" Width

DESCRIPTION:

Incredibly with no loss and only the faintest, slightest staining on the left middle portion of the vellum parchment paper. The edges and even more incredibly, the two individual signed wax seals by the agreeing parties and the third red wax seal of the legal document's witness, are all largely intact, with only very minor wax loss to their edges. The impressions on the red wax stamped seals are still clear and crisp after 306 years, which is in and of itself amazing, considering the repeated handling and climatic fluctuations this wonderfully well preserved early 18th century British legal document would have been subjected to. It survived war, fire, draught, flooding, heat, cold and human misadventure, not to mention abuse and neglect. This antique English 'indenture' was clearly tucked away, folded together and forgotten in a secure drawer or cool, dry place for many, many years and for that matter, centuries. The land title agreement is between the Britons Isaac Bentley and John Hamorsby for a parcel of land, meadow, watering place and land also known as a 'farm.' The terms of agreement were to be binding for a legal period, without the possibility of challenge or irreputable liens or challenges, for a period of up to and including 500 years. The document is also signed on the verso, with several notations and addendums to the original legal understanding and specific document. The antique cursive calligraphy is realized in deep sepia brown ink. There's an attached blue ribbon on the left hand margin of the facia of the document and the three pressed, stamped red wax seals are laid over woven fabric 'tape' or ribbon, which is woven into cut slices of the folded bottom of the document, clearly intended to be kept in a municipal or royal conservatory, where any subsequent land dispute, could be legally challenged and rendered 'correct' by this initial legal land indenture and understanding between the signators and participating parties. The vellum parchment paper feels like animal skin, since is has sizing making it less pliable yet sturdier. This chosen parchment paper was intended to last, since this would have been considered in its day to be a very important evidentiary document binding two parties together. The indenture was found folded up into one square. All that we have done to it is to very carefully unfold it and to allow the entire document to slowly relax and for the folds to lesson and become less stiff and unyielding. This is an extraordinary early document and testament to the importance of barristers, legal agreements entered upon and the very important documents that represented them in early 18th century Great Britain. Being a 'landed gentry' meant one had assets and had at least conceptual, if not real, measurable wealth, in that they would have been land owners and not landless serfs or indentured ones, toiling land that would be never theirs and left with a paltry existence of servitude to others (the landed gentry.) This indenture then, meant everything in 18th century Great Britain. It basically separated Britons into two distinct classes, those who owned land and those who didn't. Many more people didn't own land than those who did and the ensuing math and social and cultural implications of that 'social arrangement' still resonates to this very day in the modern day, contemporary 21st century, post-industrial United Kingdom. A rare and outstanding early British indenture. 100% original, authentic and absolutely untouched. Magnificent.

CONDITION:

Very Good to Excellent, absolutely untouched, 100% original, antique condition. (*The indenture will be shipped flat and with ample protection and several layers of anti-concussive materials. It will be shipped flat so that it remains in a relaxed, flattened state.)