Books and Manuscripts

Boston, June, 1765. Printed Faneuil-Hall lottery ticket, No. Five, boldy signed at bottom by Founding Father, John Hancock; signed on verso by ticket purchasers. The ticket states: "The Possessor of this Ticket (No. 3741)/is intitled (sic) to any Prize drawn against said/Number, in a Lottery granted by an Act of/the General Court of the Province of the Massachusetts-/Bay, for the Rebuilding Faneuil-Hall; subject to no/Deduction." Hinge-mounted at top to a larger sheet; in red morocco and cloth presentation case. 1 3/4 x 3 1/8 in. (44 x 79 mm). Lot includes provenance documentation: A.L.s., from John Hancock's grand-nephew, Charles L. Hancock (1810-90); T.L.s. from Philip G. Nordell.

Built as a gift to the city by Boston merchant Peter Faneuil in 1743, Faneuil Hall, nicknamed the "Cradle of Liberty", was an important site in the years leading up to the American Revolution. As a meeting house it hosted some of the most fiery debates surrounding independence from the British Crown. The morning after the Boston Massacre, on March 6, 1770, the first public meeting was held in the packed hall, with Samuel Adams giving an impassioned speech. It was also here that the first long standing Committee of Correspondence was established in a town hall vote in late 1772, and on November 29, 1773 a meeting in protest of the tea tax voted "to do the utmost in its power to prevent the landing of the tea."

Almost completely burned down on January 18, 1761, a series of lotteries were organized to raise funds for the rebuilding of the hall. John Hancock (1737-93), newly elected to the five-person Boston Board of Selectmen (Boston's governing board until the 1820s), helped organize these lotteries, and signed the tickets. The hall was reopened on March 14, 1763 with James Otis, Jr. delivering an address dedicating the hall to the cause of liberty.

The June 1765 lottery tickets are much more scarce than the April 1767 tickets, also signed by Hancock. Rare.