Object Number 1977.0152

Object Name

Badge or Tax Badge (Slave badge)

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Mrs. Samuel Schwartz

Creator (Role)

John Joseph Lafar (Maker)
1781-1849

Place of Origin

Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, South, United States, North America

Date

1819

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Reverse; "LAFAR" stamped in a serrated rectangle.
2. Inscription; Surface, upper; "CHARLESTON" stamped in an arc-shaped banner flanked by a star at each end
3. Inscription; Surface, center; "N-/o" stamped in a rectangle and "78" stamped incuse
4. Inscription; Surface, lower; "FISHER" stamped in a rectangle
5. Inscription; Surface, lower; "1819" stamped in a rectangle

Subjects

Maritime

Materials

Copper

Dimensions (inches)

2.126 (H) , 2.244 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

5.4 (H) , 5.7 (W)

Object Description

Web - 02/21/2024

Charleston, South Carolina, and several other urban areas in the United States, mandated that enslaved people wear tax badges when they were hired out to work or for permitted self-employment activities. The badge indicated that the owner had paid a tax to the city. Such urban tax and badge practices arose among free citizens as a means for controlling enslaved laborers while protecting opportunities for free laborers. This copper sheet was stamped with the word "FISHER" and "1819" to regulate an enslaved fisherman for work in Charleston's fisheries during that year.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Fennimore, Donald L. 1996 Metalwork in Early America: Copper and Its Alloys from the Winterthur Collection.
• Published: cat.223, p.332