United States of America-Department of the Interior. Act of September 28, 1850. 40 Acres Bounty Land. Hessler X118. Issued and Cancelled. Fine.This certificate, cancelled at the lower right, is from a historic period of certificates issued to mainly War of 1812 veterans, widows, dependant children, and other war veterans as compensation for their services using Federal (that is "public") lands obtained as the "Manifest Destiny" idea continued to play out on the American landscape in the decades following the Louisiana Purchase. These certificates, supervised by the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions, are essentially "40 Acres and a Mule" documents and are therefore tangible American political Americana. This Act and type is listed in Hessler, but some of the succeeding acts or subtypes are more often not. A listed type printed on bond paper by Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. 31.0cm by 19.0cm. Top center, a seated returned soldier surveys his new land with homestead in background. Left end, Lewis Cass above Washington on horseback. Right end is Clay. Lower right vignette of farmer with long scythe (cut out here). Blue protector 40/BOUNTY LAND/ACRES in bottom center. Transfer portion along bottom trimmed away. No.507. Issued to a private in the detached New York Militia. Cancelled, penned as such and with portion of lower left removed with registers signature. Scarce, the most encountered type of these. However, handsomely engraved and historic. Slightly toned paper, large cancel portion out, several short edge tears, and a paper strip repair from the back along the top. The last we cataloged and sold was in the final Stacks sale of The 52 Collection Part II in January 2011. That was a high grade issued piece which realized $5,750. Despite the cancel, this is a very collectible and historic item.From the John E. Herzog Collection.
