An engraving produced by Paul Revere in the aftermath of the King Street massacre in Boston in 1770 has sold for $100,000 at Bonhams.
The lot was among the highlights of the sale of the Caren Archive in New York, which comprised a selection of historically significant printed manuscripts and newspapers from throughout history.
 Paul Revere printed the engraving in the aftermath of the Boston massacre |
The gory engraving, which depicts a squadron of British soldiers firing on civilians, is among the most famous images of the era.
It was hand cut and distributed by Revere, who would later become famous for his "midnight ride" to warn the inhabitants of Massachusetts of the advance of the British army in 1775.
The two sides would meet in the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first formal engagements of the revolutionary war.
A 16th century broadsheet commemorating Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globe made $56,520.
 The broadsheet depicts Sir Francis Drake and was produced in Germany in around 1581 |
The paper was printed in Germany and depicts the famous privateer posed amid cannonballs and powder kegs.
Drake (1540-1596) returned from his three-year voyage in 1581. His most famous feat, the destruction of the Spanish Armada, would take place eight years later in 1589.
A wooden pencil that Abraham Lincoln used to write a telegram to Ulysses S Grant in the closing days of the civil war made $11,875.
It was accompanied by a note of provenance that reads: "This pencil is the one used by Abraham Lincoln in writing his dispatch from Richmond to Gen Grant- the week before he was assassinated.
"Given me by S.H. Beckwith of Gen Grant's staff. / Washington, 1865."
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