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Auction: 18038 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 3004

Autographs
Sir Francis Godolphin
1603 (12th March) receipt written on blank paper folded in the usual manner; bearing a filing endorsement on the reverse. Receipt acknowledges a loan to the King of £500 for six months by "John Eldred citizen of London" for the purchase of unsold tin for the use of the King. Bearing the signature of Sir Francis Godolphin "Fra: Godolphin".


"By vertue of a lettre under his Majesties hand and privie signett bearing date of the last day of February last directed to me Frauncis Godolphin knight, Receavour General of his Majesties Duchie of Cornwall, I doe hereby acknowledg to have receaved of John Eldred Citizen of London the som of five hundred poundes of lawfull English money, towards the buyeng of such Tyn to his Majesties use ..."


An important piece of industrial history. Photo

Sir Francis Godolphin (1540-1608), a member of the noble Godolphin family of Cornwall, landowner, Member of Parliament, dedicatee, Knight, and praised in his day for his comitments to the tin mining industry.


This is a remarkable document that illustrates the importance of mining industry in this period. So great was the mining success and so influential was Sir Francis Godolphin that Richard Carew in The Survey of Cornwall (1602) praised Godolphin's efforts in both using surplus tin and increasing Her Majesty's customs by at least £10,000.


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Sold for
£420