BOSTON (AP) — Artifacts once owned by Paul Revere’s family have been sold at auction for $20,000.
The items were found in the attic of a home in Canton, Massachusetts, believed to have been owned by the family of the legendary Revolutionary War figure, The Boston Globe reports.
They include tools such wrought iron calipers, letters and other personal items. There’s also an account book belonging to Paul Revere’s descendants and a sign painted black bearing the name of Paul Revere’s son, Joseph W. Revere.
John McInnis Auctioneers sold the items as a single lot in an auction that concluded Saturday. The auction house estimated the lot to sell for between $1,000 and $2,000.
The items’ historical connection helped drive up their value, John McInnis said, but he thought they would not sell for more than $8,000. The buyer who won the auction bid online and the auction house doesn’t know their identity, he added.
McInnis said the sign is likely related to the casing company the Revere family owned in Canton, a Boston suburb, and it's very interesting and clean.
Revere was famed for his midnight ride on April 18, 1775, in which he warned the American colonial militia that the British Army was approaching ahead of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The ride was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1861 poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Revere was born and lived mostly in Boston. He purchased a home in Canton in 1801 and later opened the Revere Copper Company on the land, and his descendants built other operations there.