In 2017, I discovered an article written four years prior by Leslie and Peter Warwick. Their keen eye and enviable collection of Americana was coordinated by their quest for knowledge about the items they assembled. The article they wrote, published in Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine thrilled me. Pennsylvania fraktur was already a well known entity. I had sold a few. But New Jersey fraktur birth records were new to me and especially exciting since I was living in Burlington County at the time and carefully studying original Quaker family lines. To my delight,the Sotheby’s Important Americana sale included a few of the fraktur birth records discussed in the Warwick’s scholarly article. See below.
Display of Fraktur Birth Records at Sotheby’s
My favorite. Note the date 1753. The father of Abraham Jones was Samuel Jones. He was not a Quaker. He spent time in the New Jersey Militia during the Revolution .Note the uniform details. The fifer, drummer, and band leader are dressed in white. Sold for $15,600.
Birth record of Caleb A.L. Shinn. This fraktur depicts a hunting scene in the style of an English print. 1797 Sold for $14,400.
Isaac Hillier 1780-1806 (passed at auction)
Mary Hillier 1777-1779 and deceased brother John Hillier 1776-1779
Elizabeth Hillier 1788-1860 (passed at auction)