A Fraktur Birth Record for Caleb Arney Lippincott Shinn, attributed to the 'New Jersey Artist', Burlington County, New Jersey, Circa 1804

Raccoon Creek Antiques, Oley Forge, Pennsylvania, at the York Antiques Show, 2009.

Leslie and Peter Warwick, "The Birth Records of Burlington County, New Jersey," Antiques & Fine Art, Spring 2010, pp. 176-185;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), p. 210, fig. 372.

Caleb Arney Lippincott Shinn was born Sept. 14, 1797 in Pemberton, Burlington County, New Jersey to parents Joseph and Mary Shinn. Caleb married Rebecca Lodge in 1827 and the couple resided in South Hampton with their four children: Mary, Anna, and twins: Amanda and Joseph. He was a large landowner but was involved and lost three lawsuits regarding land rights that went to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Caleb died in 1880 at the age of 83.

There are 20 known birth records by the 'New Jersey' artist. Caleb’s birth record shows three men on horseback led by a young man who is galloping after six hounds; a scene which relates to a print by Robert Sayer (1702-1752) called The Hunt, after a painting by James Seymour called The Epping Hunt or Cockney Comicalitics In Full Chase from an original painting, dedicated to his Excellency Charles Duke of Grafton. This print has been used as a source for many hunting scenes on overmantels, as shown in Nina Fletcher Little, Little By Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts, (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1984), fig. 114, p. 89.

While the date on the fraktur is 1797, a watermark of the paper manufacturing firm, C Austin & Carr, proves the paper was made in 1804. The watermark C. Austin was made in Mount Holly, New Jersey and can be found under the letters sh. Cyrus Austin ordered a mould with the watermark C. Austin from Nathan Sellers who was the first principle mould maker from 1776 to 1824 from Philadelphia on June 22, 1803. It is one of the earliest papers made in New Jersey and is very rare. See, Thomas L. Gravell and George Miller, "A Catalogue of American Watermarks, 1690-1835," Garland Publishing, New York, p. 22.