Papers of John Adams, volume 8
1780-01-31
Invoice of Sundries shipp'd per the Phinix James Babson master for Newburyport on Account of the Honble. John Adams Esq.
| No. 1 a 2. | ||||||||||
| I.A. | ||||||||||
| 1. | A Case containing | |||||||||
| 4. Dozn. of tumblers | a 8. | rials | 48.2 | |||||||
| 2. Do Cups | 8. | do. | 16. | 48. | ||||||
| 2. | a Barrell | |||||||||
| 6. lb. Green tea | a 60. | rs. | 360. | |||||||
| 1. Dozn. Knifes | 80. | |||||||||
| 1. Dozn. Forks | 80. | |||||||||
| 1. Pce. of holland linen 27¼ v s.3 | a 11. | rs. | 299. | 254 | ||||||
| 6. Do Do. 150. do | 8 | 1200. | ||||||||
| 6. Dozn. Barcelona Handkffs | a 104. | 624. | ||||||||
| 12. Do Do | 102. | 1224. | 3867. | 25 | ||||||
| Case, Barrell, packing and carriage paid | 84. | 9 | ||||||||
| Bal. ser | 4,000.5 | |||||||||
| Commission | ||||||||||
The content of all or some notes that appeared on this page in the printed volume has been moved to the end of the preceding document.
This invoice is reproduced in vol. 3 of
Adams Family Correspondence
, facing p. 117.
An error for 32.
That is, 27¼ varas. The vara, a Spanish unit of measurement, equaled approximately 33 inches (
OED
).
The correct figure is 299.75.
Four thousand reals equals 500 pesos or, as they were also known, dollars. This is considerably more than the sum mentioned in the first paragraph of this letter, assuming that JA had given his order in terms of dollars as the equivalent of pesos.