.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A John Hancock lottery ticket issued to fund the rebuilding of Faneuil Hall.
The coupon reads: "The Possessor of this Ticket (No. [in manuscript: 3737]) is intitled to any Prize drawn against said Number, in a LOTTERY granted by an Act of the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, for Rebuilding FANEUIL-HALL; subject to no Deduction."
Faneuil Hall—Boston’s famed “Cradle of Liberty,” where colonists were already gathering to debate resistance to British authority, had been gutted by fire in 1761. It re-opened in 1763, but needed additional rebuilding, which was partially funded through a public lottery authorized by the Massachusetts General Court. This 1765 ticket bears Hancock’s bold signature as a Boston selectman. It both coincides with the Stamp Act then being debated and is scarcer than the 1767 version.
The coupon reads: "The Possessor of this Ticket (No. [in manuscript: 3737]) is intitled to any Prize drawn against said Number, in a LOTTERY granted by an Act of the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, for Rebuilding FANEUIL-HALL; subject to no Deduction."
Faneuil Hall—Boston’s famed “Cradle of Liberty,” where colonists were already gathering to debate resistance to British authority, had been gutted by fire in 1761. It re-opened in 1763, but needed additional rebuilding, which was partially funded through a public lottery authorized by the Massachusetts General Court. This 1765 ticket bears Hancock’s bold signature as a Boston selectman. It both coincides with the Stamp Act then being debated and is scarcer than the 1767 version.