Raynors HCA 2015-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015
New York, Currier & Ives, 1871, Lithograph, 13-1/2 x 1- 3/4 inches. Tanned. Some edge wear, faint stain in lower corner. Overall, very good. A scathing satirical print, castigating the Tammany Hall organization and its leader, "Boss" William Marcy Tweed. The 1870 New York City charter, written by Tweed and his cronies, gave the Tweed ring vast powers to deplete the city's treasury. This cartoon was issued shortly after the passage of the charter, and criticizes the leeway given to Tweed by New York's leading political figures. This print is interesting for many reasons, not least of which is it gives an image of Tweed apart from the famous Thomas Nast cartoons. Reilly gives a detailed description of the image: "Tweed, as the Indian Tammany, raises his tomahawk to decapitate an unidentified man whose head lies on a stump. On his arm is tattooed a large '6,' a reference to the Americus or 'Big Six' Fire Company, which Tweed led in his earlier days. The victim moans,, 'Putty can't save me.' Three severed heads already hang from Tweed's belt. Beside him an unidentified man standing beneath a hangman's rope remarks, 'Bad noose for me.' Behind a podium or railing in the background stands New York mayor A. Oakley Hall, who proclaims, 'I am monarch of all I appoint.' The new charter gave Hall authority to appoint all city officials. Governor John T. Hoffman, next to Hall, cries, 'Save me from my friends.' City Chamberlain Peter Barr Sweeny holds a key and sits on a chest, vowing, 'Upon this charter let us build.' City Comptroller Richard B. Connolly rests his hand on a bag 'New York City Treasury' and remarks, 'Richard is himself again.' At far left an unidentified man (possibly President Ulysses S. Grant) holding a pen asserts, 'My voice is still for peace.' ('Let us have peace' was Grant's 1868 campaign slogan.)" Also on the left is a group of journalists, evidently prospective victims of Tweed's axe. Among them is Horace Greeley, editor of the NEW YORK TRIBUNE. Reilly attributes the print to the Currier & Ives shop, on the basis of style, though it is not listed in the Currier and Ives catalogue raisonné. OCLC locates only the copy at the Library of Congress. A scarce and important depiction of corrupt New York politics in the era of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.
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