1831 William W. Corcoran Signed Georgetown Deed – Early Transaction with George W. Riggs – Before Corcoran & Riggs Bank

A rare original manuscript quitclaim deed executed at Georgetown, District of Columbia, on July 25, 1831, bearing the bold autograph signature of William W. Corcoran, one of nineteenth-century America's greatest financiers, philanthropists, and art patrons. By this instrument, Corcoran conveys Lot No. 90 in Thomas Beall's Addition to Georgetown to George W. Riggs for the sum of Seventy-five Dollars. The deed was acknowledged before Joel Brown, Justice of the Peace, and officially recorded in the land records of Washington County, District of Columbia. This document is particularly significant because it predates the famous Corcoran & Riggs banking partnership by nearly a decade. In 1840, Corcoran and Riggs joined forces to establish one of the nation's most influential private banking houses, a firm that financed major federal projects and evolved into the renowned Riggs Bank. The property lies within Thomas Beall's Addition, one of Georgetown's earliest and most historically significant expansions, authorized by the Maryland legislature in the eighteenth century. Condition: Excellent. Complete on a single folio with crisp manuscript text, bold Corcoran signature, official acknowledgment, recording endorsements, and only light fold wear consistent with archival storage. An outstanding and highly desirable early Washington, D.C., real estate document linking two men who would become giants of American finance, with exceptional appeal to collectors of Georgetown history, banking history, Washington, D.C. manuscripts, and nineteenth-century Americana. The deed records the conveyance by: William W. Corcoran (1798–1888), the future financier, philanthropist, founder of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and co-founder of the banking firm later known as Riggs Bank, to George W. Riggs for the consideration of $75. The property conveyed is: Lot No. 90 in Thomas Beall's Addition to Georgetown, District of Columbia. The deed includes: Corcoran's large autograph signature. Acknowledgment before Joel Brown, Justice of the Peace. Recording endorsements showing it was entered in the Washington County, D.C., land records. Later archival notations confirming recording. This document predates the famous Corcoran & Riggs banking partnership by nearly a decade, making it an early example of William W. Corcoran's real estate activities before he became one of America's most influential financiers and philanthropists. Corcoran later co-founded the banking house of Corcoran & Riggs in 1840, while Thomas Beall's Addition was one of Georgetown's earliest planned expansions. Historical Importance This deed is especially desirable because it combines two exceptionally important Georgetown figures: William Wilson Corcoran, one of the wealthiest Americans of the nineteenth century and founder of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. George W. Riggs, who would later become Corcoran's banking partner in the celebrated firm Corcoran & Riggs, predecessor of Riggs Bank. Although this 1831 deed predates their banking partnership, it documents an early real estate transaction between the two men during Georgetown's commercial expansion. Collectors of Washington, D.C., banking history, Georgetown history, or Corcoran material would find this considerably more desirable than an ordinary land deed. Condition Very Fine. Excellent manuscript quality. Strong, dark ink. Large, attractive Corcoran signature. Recording endorsements complete. Light expected fold wear. No significant losses or repairs apparent. Presentation is excellent.