Item MS130 - Bill of sale [Kauff-Brief.]

Item consists of a bill of sale [Kauff-Brief] by Andreas Roessner, burgess and basketmaker at Kelheim [Kerbelmacher zu Kelhaimb] in Bavaria, and Maria his wife. The other party to the sale is named Christopher [Nachhilter?], burgess and soap-boiler [Saiffensieder] at Kelheim. The bill ends with the date 3 June 1716. Afterward there is an authorizing signature by Johann Albrecht Notthaft von Weissentein, who acquired the lands of Affecking, now part of the city of Kelheim, through marriage. Notthaft died on 9 August 1727 at the age of 79.

The bill is an unbound manuscript written in ink, now faded to light brown, executed on a single sheet of laid paper in folio format. The paper bears a stamp in black ink, 3 cm in diameter, reading “(VI) Kreizer-Papier,” a paper manufacture which dates to about the end of the seventeenth century. It also bears a watermark of a fleur-de-lis. Beside the signature of Notthaft, there is a black wax seal, 2 cm in diameter, depicting a coat-of-arms surmounted by a crown with the letters “HANFVW” [ie Hans Albrecht Notthaft, Freiherr von Weissenstein?]. The bill has been folded numerous times and bears the title “Kauff Brief” with comments and the date 3 June 1716 on the outer fold. The language appears to be mainly High German with some dialectic peculiarities.