MARSHFIELD, MASS. – Leading Will Henry’s August 1 sale was a manuscript diary kept by Captain Benjamin Beal covering the period March 17, 1776, to December 6 of that year. Following the evacuation of British troops from Boston on March 17, George Washington ordered four regiments to march to New York. One company making that march was commanded by Benjamin Beal, of Hingham, Mass. His diary, describing events and hardships on that march, along with his ledger recording financial transactions during that time period, and a manuscript copy of the diary made in the early Nineteenth Century, sold for $87,500, far over its estimate.

It was a strong sale across the board, with Civil War items, including an exceptional painting of Lady Liberty holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, which brought $31,250, and items from the family of Gideon Wells, Lincoln’s Secretary of War, doing well. Early American furniture also performed, as did Asian items including a Nineteenth Century Chinese celadon vase, which earned $30,000.

A full report will follow.