Help reading this bill from 1846

Discussion in 'Ephemera and Photographs' started by Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017.

  1. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Someone gave me a box of paper today - I don't think anything else in the box was related to this piece of paper.
    It appears to be a bill from 1846 for $236.78. I can't read the handwriting well enough to figure out what the bill is for and I really want to know, because, well, I'm nosy! :D

    DSCN6582.JPG
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  2. bobsyouruncle

    bobsyouruncle Well-Known Member

    ? white rags not sure what the rags would be for ? making paper
     
    bobsyouruncle, Mar 3, 2017
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  3. lauragarnet

    lauragarnet Well-Known Member

    4031 White Rugs...?:confused:
     
    lauragarnet, Mar 3, 2017
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  4. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Oh - I thought that said white rugs! :eek:
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  5. bobsyouruncle

    bobsyouruncle Well-Known Member

    now..I'm really interested! hope you solve this one
     
    bobsyouruncle, Mar 3, 2017
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  6. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Well the rugs only added $5 to the bill.
    If I could read the second name of the billing company, I might be able to find out what their business was.
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  7. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    I'd go with rags. There was a Tileston & Hollingsworth Paper Company in Boston at that time.

    They're in a book called : Rag Paper Manufacture in the United States, 1801-1900

    Image2.jpg


    link
     
    moreotherstuff, Mar 3, 2017
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  8. afantiques

    afantiques Well-Known Member

    It is 4031 white rags at 5 and 3/4 cents each. If paper was involved that was clearly what they were for.

    The extra $5 might have been carriage.
     
    afantiques, Mar 3, 2017
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  9. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    It says 4301 white rags @ 5 3/4¢, which does work out to $231.78. Then it says 'add ____ $5.00', but it doesn't say why. Could very well have been shipping - or a warehousing fee.

    A City of Boston Directory for 1848-9 shows Kennedy and Austin as a Paper Warehouse.

    zzzz.jpg

    link
     
    moreotherstuff, Mar 3, 2017
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  10. terry5732

    terry5732 Well-Known Member

    Adjusted for inflation, those rags would be $1.61 each today.
     
    terry5732, Mar 3, 2017
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  11. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Wow! You, my friends, truly are amazing and brilliant! Thank you!
    Can anyone read the whole bill to me?
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  12. terry5732

    terry5732 Well-Known Member

    Just pay it before it goes to collections
     
    terry5732, Mar 3, 2017
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  13. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Thanks for that link moreotherstuff. Maybe this bill does have something to do with some of the other paper in the box. I'll have to go through it with a fine tooth comb tomorrow.
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  14. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    hah, hah Terry - too late for me. :eek::D
     
    Bookahtoo, Mar 3, 2017
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  15. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    It's a receipt for a payment to Kennedy and Austin. The line below the fold say rec'd payment, and below that it says Kennedy and Austin.

    I don't know about the first word in each of the 2 main lines

    The first looks to me like Mapes. Maybe reading it wrong? Might be a contraction of 'makers' or 'manufacturers'? Might be the name of someone at the company.

    The second might be Basof? Name of someone at Kennedy & Austin? Maybe 'Bus of' as in 'business of'?

    Don't know.

    If you're looking at the other papers, check them for watermarks.

    The price seems expensive to me for rags, but if they had to be sorted, clean, white linen, then maybe so.
     
    moreotherstuff, Mar 4, 2017
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  16. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    Figtree3, Mar 4, 2017
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  17. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    I think the first "word" in the first line is the abbreviation for "Messeurs" (not sure exactly how to spell that archaic term now. "Misters" if you will) - Back then, when 2 "s"s appear together the first was written as an f.

    The next line "Bot of" - Bought of.
     
    Bakersgma, Mar 4, 2017
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