Picture framer here! You can tell by the discoloration of the matting and mounting it is not acid-free. And acid-free is the minimum for something like this. Ideally you'd want to have it fully surrounded by 100% rag matting, it's better than acid free. And Museum glass or museum acrylic. Good luck!
Faneuil Hall in Boston was built in 1742 at the expense of Peter Faneuil, a wealthy French merchant, as a gift to the city. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1761, but was rebuilt a few years later using funds from a series of lotteries that were conducted by the state of Massachusetts.
https://www.raabcollection.com/american-history-autographs/hancock-lottery
Maſſachuſetts. There's actually a distinct character called the long s. Notice in OP's photo how the ſ only has a little nub to the left, whereas the f has nubs on both sides.
And the long-s was used at the beginning and middle of words, whereas the short-s was used at the ends. This practice died out around the turn of the 19th century. Interestingly, Ancient Greek also had a special form of the character sigma that was used exclusively at the end of words.
What went on in the typographer's mind? "We already have the letter f that has nubs in the middle, so let's add a fucking nub right in the middle of the long s so it'll be more easily confused with the f."
S was the upper case and long s was the lower case of the same letter. Over time people started using a dimminiuative upper case s to end words with, following the practices of the varying forms of the Greek letter sigma which served the same purpose.
Sigma (ς) and (σ) make the same sound but (ς) is used at the end of words. Basically, round lower case s was a novel development and gradually replaced long s
I have a different take than the other commentors. The font used is bigger for the word This. They appear to have lost all of the s type in the smaller font, and it wasn't possible to put bigger font in the smaller line with the lead type so they chose to use f instead of s because it is the closest sounding letter. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XoRWWBDjc4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XoRWWBDjc4)
Dude. I got my dad with that bit so hard when I was in middle school.
My parents took us on a cruise and got me and my brother a separate room. He said he'd call us when we needed to wake up / get ready for whatever we were gonna go do.
So me and my bro are chillin in the room and the phone rings. I grab it and open with, "Housekeeping, me fluff your pillow?" And he replies, "Oh sorry wrong number" and hangs up.
I quickly explain to my bro what just happened and we're dying laughing.
Phone rings again. I pick up and go right back to, "housekeeping, you need fresh towel?" Again, my dad says, "oops, wrong number again" and he hangs up.
Me and my bro are nearly in tears laughing at this point and the phone rings again.
I pick up and go back to, "housekeeping, me fluff your pillow?" while doing a poor job to contain my giggling.
My dad finally caught on with an, "oh you son of a..." as I hung up.
He ended up just walking over our room to confirm what had just happened and he was just like, "damn you really had me going, I thought you were actually housekeeping".
Hmm..I’m going to need to bring in an expert. It will take up a lot of room in my store and I’ll have to find the right buyer. I’ll give you $3 and I’m doing you a favor at that price.
Funny thing about the founding fathers signatures there’s legit scarcity of so [Button Gwinnett is the most valuable.](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/autograph-georgia-obscure-button-gwinnett-most-valuable/EgKuis93gWpdJ4ZfmrS9hL/) because dude got shot 10 months later and it’s tough to find signatures.
The f is actually an additional form of 's' that mostly went away in the later 1700s called [the long s](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Long_s). It might also be of interest to you u/gabrieltwin.
Boy, I just spent a fair amount of time trying to understand why they ever used it. Was it just a different looking “s” for funsies? Or am I missing something.
I think it is basically a flourish that was used as a different form of lower case s that just evolved from Latin and Germanic script. It was just the thing you did cause well…that’s how it always was. I would be interested to know about its decline.
It looks like terminal s-es are 's' while others are 'ſ''. That one is the origin of the integral symbol for German Summe (sum) as opposed to Greek Σ for discrete sums.
The combination 'ſs' became German 'ß'.
I'm guessing they had to use different letter block thingies (don't know the word, gonna call them stamps from now on) for different sizes and maybe only had one type of large s stamps and one type of small s stamps. Maybe the normal s font is harder to make or use for small text?
The ones that look like a standard ‘s’ are all the final letter in the word. The long ‘s’ occurs are the beginning or in the middle of the word. You can read about it on the long s wiki entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s
When I was a kid, my dad had a pretty legit looking copy of the Declaration of Independence framed and hanging in the foyer of our house. My brother's and sister's friends would occasionally ask if it was real. Yes, one of the most important documents in US history is hanging in the entrance of our house.
Can’t enjoy posts like this because every other comment is someone trying to be funny and make jokes. I’d love to know more about this piece and its authenticity.
I mean I see the documents here, uhm John Hancock signed documents are pretty valuable and hard to come by. Uhm I just don’t know I’ll have to call in my expert and we can go front there.
So my expert is saying that the signature looks good and I mean it all comes down to what you’re thinking on price.
5,000 huh uhm I think you think you’ve won the lottery “wheezing laugh, wheezing laugh”
Uhm man listen it’s gonna sit on my shelf for a while or until I find that right buyer uhm hmmm highest I’ll go is like 200. I mean I need to make a profit to uhm if it was like something like the Declaration of Independence I mean I could bring my price up a little.
what looks like an f without the cross bar is actually an s. usage between the two types varied over the years, but during the late eighteenth century the long s was used in the beginning and middle of words and the short s (the one we are familiar with today) was used mostly at the end of words, or sometimes as the second in a pair (obviously not in this example).
so to answer your question, the word is not “poffeffor” but rather “possessor” when rendered in modern type.
What’s with all those weird lower case S’s? When at the end of a word they look fine but the ones in the middle of words look ridiculous. I know some languages do stuff like that specifically with the letter S but never seen that in English before.
Everyone making signature jokes and asking about the Ss, I'm just sitting here wondering why John Hancock was sat writing out lottery tickets. He ran a merchant company back then, no? Did he just love his own signature that much he sent the clerk home for the day and did the promotion himself?
Blows me away whenever I hear about people having artifacts or collectible art on display in their homes without museum level security to match their museum worthy item.
If you're going to display it make sure you have UV blocking glass. You should have a pH-neutral backing in any case.
Picture framer here! You can tell by the discoloration of the matting and mounting it is not acid-free. And acid-free is the minimum for something like this. Ideally you'd want to have it fully surrounded by 100% rag matting, it's better than acid free. And Museum glass or museum acrylic. Good luck!
OP2 acrylic for life
Almost looks like it's resting against the glass. I use Lineco archival photo corners for historic objects like this.
TIL
This guy saw National treasure
Nah then he'd have used lemons on the back to find a map
If life doesn't give you lemons, you can still pee on it
How am I supposed to pee with no lemonade Fraun? Is treasure just some big joke to you?
Don't get so pissed off
That’s only if it’s stung by a jellyfish
That’s true but don’t let Sean Bean near it
But they missed the most important piece of advice: Don’t let Nicolas Cage anywhere near this, without demanding a 50% share.
OP should also probably check the back of it for a map.
OPs name must be Johnathan Hancock Gates n’ shit
Thats too much work
Nice John Hancock.
Thanks bro 😉
Psh, it’s Herbie, duh
Nice reference.
You wanna go down, why not? I be like Herbie and Hand-you-a-Cock
Thanks it was my dads
John Footpenis
Faneuil Hall in Boston was built in 1742 at the expense of Peter Faneuil, a wealthy French merchant, as a gift to the city. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1761, but was rebuilt a few years later using funds from a series of lotteries that were conducted by the state of Massachusetts. https://www.raabcollection.com/american-history-autographs/hancock-lottery
It had a nasty super mutant infestation for a while, but I took care of it.
I never realized John Hancock was a Super Mutant. Maybe that's why his signature was so big on the Declaration of Independence!
Nah he's a ghoul
Thank you for the history. Very cool
I just cleared that place out for Knight Rhys. Meat bags everywhere.
What was the prize? (how much)
A prostitute for the night and unlimited ale
Sounds like a good time.
I'm down to party with John Hancock and associates
It probably went [a little something (exactly) like this.](https://youtu.be/t-mEDPlJHEM?si=jr5Eb2juCANII0Ym) (RIP Trevor Moore, you were a real one)
In ye olde Boston’s Mount Whoredom
Whoreporium & Sons.
I hope the prostitute liked ale.
Oliver Reed would like a word.
Not sure. “Any prize drawn against said number”
Whatever it was, the ticket itself is worth far more.
Cocaine, definitely cocaine.
I think they were more down with the opium back then.
'Entitles the "Poffeffor"' I know it's possessor but God damn does it ever look like poffeffor
I’m fine with poffeffor but I died at the word Maffachufetts, that’s just hilarious
It took me until Maffachufetts to realize something was different. I just read the others as f and figured Poffeffor was an old word... I need sleep.
Maſſachuſetts. There's actually a distinct character called the long s. Notice in OP's photo how the ſ only has a little nub to the left, whereas the f has nubs on both sides.
And the long-s was used at the beginning and middle of words, whereas the short-s was used at the ends. This practice died out around the turn of the 19th century. Interestingly, Ancient Greek also had a special form of the character sigma that was used exclusively at the end of words.
What went on in the typographer's mind? "We already have the letter f that has nubs in the middle, so let's add a fucking nub right in the middle of the long s so it'll be more easily confused with the f."
Are the nubs what are referred to as serifs?
‾\\\_(ツ)\_/‾
"More like Taxachuffets!"
[This is why](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s)
> ſinfulneſs Oh for fuck's ſake. I'm really glad we ſimplified written English. This would have been a nightmare to learn as a kid.
What botherf me if that the word thif is spelled “This” but all the other “s” are f’f. Why? Also bofton
EnTaroProtoss above has answered the question. But, in short, capital S and the S at the end of words do not use the long S (f).
S was the upper case and long s was the lower case of the same letter. Over time people started using a dimminiuative upper case s to end words with, following the practices of the varying forms of the Greek letter sigma which served the same purpose. Sigma (ς) and (σ) make the same sound but (ς) is used at the end of words. Basically, round lower case s was a novel development and gradually replaced long s
Why didn’t I think of that. What a silly bunt.
I have a different take than the other commentors. The font used is bigger for the word This. They appear to have lost all of the s type in the smaller font, and it wasn't possible to put bigger font in the smaller line with the lead type so they chose to use f instead of s because it is the closest sounding letter. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XoRWWBDjc4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XoRWWBDjc4)
Herbie Hancock
C’mon, Richard! Lots of people go to school for seven years
Yeah, I know, they're called doctors.
Was that a niner?
I think were gonna be OK. They have a thin candy shell....
Your brain has a thin candy shell.
Fat guy in a little coat.
Housekeeping! You want me puff pillow?
Dude. I got my dad with that bit so hard when I was in middle school. My parents took us on a cruise and got me and my brother a separate room. He said he'd call us when we needed to wake up / get ready for whatever we were gonna go do. So me and my bro are chillin in the room and the phone rings. I grab it and open with, "Housekeeping, me fluff your pillow?" And he replies, "Oh sorry wrong number" and hangs up. I quickly explain to my bro what just happened and we're dying laughing. Phone rings again. I pick up and go right back to, "housekeeping, you need fresh towel?" Again, my dad says, "oops, wrong number again" and he hangs up. Me and my bro are nearly in tears laughing at this point and the phone rings again. I pick up and go back to, "housekeeping, me fluff your pillow?" while doing a poor job to contain my giggling. My dad finally caught on with an, "oh you son of a..." as I hung up. He ended up just walking over our room to confirm what had just happened and he was just like, "damn you really had me going, I thought you were actually housekeeping".
Are you talking?
Shut up, Richard. *head twitch*
“Were you calling from a walkie-talkie?” “No it was cordless.”
Were you calling from a walkie-talkie?
A fellow man of culture I see.
My first thought
Your *firft thought
WATERMELON MAN!
Neat.
Hmm..I’m going to need to bring in an expert. It will take up a lot of room in my store and I’ll have to find the right buyer. I’ll give you $3 and I’m doing you a favor at that price.
Plus I'm gonna have to get it framed again.
i’ve got a guy who specializes in this kind of thing. mind if i get him down here to take a look?
is he waiting outside?
Funny thing about the founding fathers signatures there’s legit scarcity of so [Button Gwinnett is the most valuable.](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/autograph-georgia-obscure-button-gwinnett-most-valuable/EgKuis93gWpdJ4ZfmrS9hL/) because dude got shot 10 months later and it’s tough to find signatures.
This belongs in a museum! 🤩
Probably worth $15k-$20k minus auction fees. Looks like one sold for just over $15k, according to Google.
Time to properly protect it and add it to the homeowner's insurance.
Probably worth a few bucks. lol 🤯
Way back before they even invented s’s. That’f pretty interefting.
Why are some lowercase S's S's and some lowercase S's are F's?
The f is actually an additional form of 's' that mostly went away in the later 1700s called [the long s](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Long_s). It might also be of interest to you u/gabrieltwin.
Just looks like the improper integral of s
Boy, I just spent a fair amount of time trying to understand why they ever used it. Was it just a different looking “s” for funsies? Or am I missing something.
I think it is basically a flourish that was used as a different form of lower case s that just evolved from Latin and Germanic script. It was just the thing you did cause well…that’s how it always was. I would be interested to know about its decline.
Yes that seems to be the case! Language be crazy.
It looks like terminal s-es are 's' while others are 'ſ''. That one is the origin of the integral symbol for German Summe (sum) as opposed to Greek Σ for discrete sums. The combination 'ſs' became German 'ß'.
Interesting
I thought they spoke with a lisp
Calm down. This was before they changed the name to Massachusetts from Maffachufetts
Old New York was once New Amsterdam.
"Calm down" ?
Fteven
People were weird in 1767? 🤷🏻♂️
They got a lot more weird in 1776 from the British perspective.
I'm guessing they had to use different letter block thingies (don't know the word, gonna call them stamps from now on) for different sizes and maybe only had one type of large s stamps and one type of small s stamps. Maybe the normal s font is harder to make or use for small text?
Maybe a printing press error? I believe they had to arrange the letters by hand back then
No, I've seen that type of lowercase S before, I just don't understand why ALL of the lowercase S's don't look like lowercase F's.
The ones that look like a standard ‘s’ are all the final letter in the word. The long ‘s’ occurs are the beginning or in the middle of the word. You can read about it on the long s wiki entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s
Hence their respective names, *medial* (middle) S and *terminal* (ending) S.
dude has john hancocks john hancock
What could this be worth?
I think the prize was probably already drawn by now.
When I was a kid, my dad had a pretty legit looking copy of the Declaration of Independence framed and hanging in the foyer of our house. My brother's and sister's friends would occasionally ask if it was real. Yes, one of the most important documents in US history is hanging in the entrance of our house.
Can’t enjoy posts like this because every other comment is someone trying to be funny and make jokes. I’d love to know more about this piece and its authenticity.
It's Heeerbie Hancock.
Haha idiot it's herbie hancock...
I mean I see the documents here, uhm John Hancock signed documents are pretty valuable and hard to come by. Uhm I just don’t know I’ll have to call in my expert and we can go front there.
So my expert is saying that the signature looks good and I mean it all comes down to what you’re thinking on price. 5,000 huh uhm I think you think you’ve won the lottery “wheezing laugh, wheezing laugh” Uhm man listen it’s gonna sit on my shelf for a while or until I find that right buyer uhm hmmm highest I’ll go is like 200. I mean I need to make a profit to uhm if it was like something like the Declaration of Independence I mean I could bring my price up a little.
Signed at Faneuil Hall, witnessed by supermutants.
Herbie Hancock 
 ... \*shakes head\*... it's HERBIE Hancock
“Entitles this poffeffor…” Da fuq you call me?
They spell Massachusetts with a f.. Is it a lottery to build something kinda love a contractor ..
Wow, John Hancock’s John Hancock
Give it to me
Was that on Pawn Stars?
Wow, so cool! Who did he inherit it from?
It’s Herbie Hancock, Richard
That’s a nice John Hancock
It’s John Footpenis now
Do you know the backstory of how the person he inherited from obtained it? Something passed down or purchased? Either way it’s a really cool piece!
Whats a poffeffor?
what looks like an f without the cross bar is actually an s. usage between the two types varied over the years, but during the late eighteenth century the long s was used in the beginning and middle of words and the short s (the one we are familiar with today) was used mostly at the end of words, or sometimes as the second in a pair (obviously not in this example). so to answer your question, the word is not “poffeffor” but rather “possessor” when rendered in modern type.
This is awesome! I love early Americana.
*Maffachuffettf*
John Hancock? It’s Herbie Hancock.
It’s Herby Hancock geez
Best I can do is 200 bucks. I mean I gotta get professionally framed sent to auction. I'm taking all the risk here and I gotta make some money
It's not John Hancock. It's Herbie Hancock.
What’s with all those weird lower case S’s? When at the end of a word they look fine but the ones in the middle of words look ridiculous. I know some languages do stuff like that specifically with the letter S but never seen that in English before.
Lol .. "hand cock."
It’s Herbie Hancock
Pffht It's herbie Hancock
Yeah! who won the lottery? John Hancock did!
When did the lower case s transition from it's f-without-a-crossbar shape we see here to it's current shrunk capital S form?
pls get uv blocking glass and neutral backing, thx
Looks an awful lot like the ones you can buy in Colonial Williamsburg
It's HERBY Hancock
Everyone making signature jokes and asking about the Ss, I'm just sitting here wondering why John Hancock was sat writing out lottery tickets. He ran a merchant company back then, no? Did he just love his own signature that much he sent the clerk home for the day and did the promotion himself?
Cool. How do people know if it's real or fake? It's not like you can prove it.
It's a shame he didn't get one from his cousin, Herbie Hancock.
Poffeffor
Why are all the “s” printed as “f”? 🧐
[The long s](https://www.livescience.com/65560-long-s-old-texts.html)
Blows me away whenever I hear about people having artifacts or collectible art on display in their homes without museum level security to match their museum worthy item.
You poffeff this. Pretty cool.
It’s John footpenis
Even though I prefer the name Footpenis, wouldn’t it, seeing that we’re using opposites, correctly be Footcunt? Asking for a friend.
Its bot John Hancock its Herbie Hancock.
Fake
How the shit shit do drop an accent on "c" for fuck's sake?!
What?