$300,000 Auction Estimate for Benjamin Franklin Promissory Note

An extremely rare 1781 promissory note printed and twice signed by Benjamin Franklin to arrange repayment of a French loan that helped finance the American Revolution leads the Freeman's August 20 Books & Manuscripts auction.

With an estimate of $200,000-$300,000, the note was printed, accomplished, and twice signed by Benjamin Franklin at his Passy press outside Paris in December 1781. Issued less than two months after the American victory at Yorktown, the document records repayment of a French government loan that helped finance the Revolutionary War at a pivotal moment in the nation's fight for independence. Printed as part of a limited series of certificates supporting loans negotiated by Franklin during his tenure as Minister Plenipotentiary to France, the document is among the last works produced at his Passy press. Only a small number remain in private hands.

Also going under the hammer is a first edition of Joseph Smith's The Book of Mormon (estimate $100,000-$150,000), the only edition identifying Joseph Smith as the book's author rather than its translator and retains its original witness testimonies. Only an estimated 500–700 copies survivie from the original 5,000 printed.

Other highlights include:

• a George Washington letter (estimate: $100,000-$150,000) signed justs after taking office as the nation's first president, transmitting the Tariff Act of 1789, the first major legislation enacted under the newly ratified Constitution, to Maryland Governor John Eager Howard. 
• a 1791 manuscript letter signed by both President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson reaffirming the Treaty of Friendship and Peace between the United States and Morocco following the death of Sultan Mohammed III (estimate: $50,000-$80,000) and addressed to his successor, Sultan al-Yazid bin Mohammed, offering America's condolences while introducing Thomas Barclay as the first United States Consul to Morocco
• a rare autograph letter by Black entrepreneur, abolitionist, Quaker, and pioneering Pan-Africanist, Paul Cuffe, documenting preparations for his final voyage to Sierra Leone in 1815 (
estimate: $15,000-$25,000) and detailing the logistical and financial arrangements for transporting free Black families from Massachusetts to West Africa aboard his brig Traveller