Partial Uncut Sheet of (6) Tickets. Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson Lottery of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. Ca. 1797. Extremely Fine.

No's. 6498-6503. Printed on laid paper by J. Woods. Signed by J.B. Rea. 118mm x 41mm. A nearly complete uncut strip, the top note is cut off, while the third note is split at left along a fold, with an angular tear from right margin into its right side. An interesting piece, missing only the bottom note with plate letter "K," as the plate letters on a complete 7-subject sheet would have spelled NEW YORK from top to bottom. A complete strip was offered as lot 5537 in R.M. Smythe's March/April 1993 auction of lottery tickets from the James DuPont collection, the only other similar strip we have noted. The Society of Useful Manufacturers was the brainchild of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and was established in 1791 as a public-private partnership to promote development along the Passaic River in northern New Jersey. The goal was to harness the river's Great Falls to power mills in the surrounding environs, an area that was chartered as the City of Paterson. The Society was successful in promoting the industrialization of Paterson, which over the years was centered on cotton, then steel, then silk before industry there faded in the 20th century.

Estimate: $700.00 - $900.00