You are bidding on a nice one letter from 1681 out of Cell (=cell).

Handwritten form supplemented of a circular issued on 14. March 1681 from the “Fürstl. Braunschw. Lüneb. Secret councilor and grand bailiff / also senior and chamber councilors."

The signature is probably from from the Grand Vogt of CelleGeorg Christoph von Hammerstein (1624-1687), the first bearer of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog? Unfortunately I couldn't find a comparison signature; But I think I read “V. Hammerstein”.

Addressed to the bailiff Jobst Heinrich Milte{?} and clerk Dietrich Flebbe († 1690) in Lüne (Lüneburg); the latter can be proven to have been an official clerk in Lüne Monastery and Braunschweig-Lüneburg bailiff in Oldenstadt.

Reminder letter due to arrears of "money gaps" which must be paid within 14 days to avoid drastic legal action.

Scope:one text page, two blank pages and one address page (32.5 x 19.5 cm).

Format (folded): 9 x 17.8 cm.

Condition: Paper browned and stained, the seal missing, with tears in the fold.

bitte also note the pictures!

Internal note: Ostbhf Vorphila 23-10-08 (9)

About Georg Christoph von Hammerstein (source: wikipedia):

Georg Christoph von Hammerstein (* 1624; † 12. November 1687 at Gesmold Castle) was a German administrative lawyer and diplomat, most recently Grand bailiff in Celle. He was the first person to be awarded the Danish Order of the Dannebrog.

Life: Georg Christoph von Hammerstein zu Equord was the eldest son of Landdrosten Hans Adam von Hammerstein (* 1579 or 1571 in Öge, Hückeswagen district; † 1653 in Altenbruchhausen) from his second marriage to Catharina, née. by Klencke (1592–1641). In 1643 he began studying law at the University of Königsberg, which he continued at the University of Groningen. He then accompanied Duke Ernst August of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, five years his junior, on his cavalier tour as a chamberlain. Ernst August appointed Hammerstein to his council in 1653. Since 1654 he was also court marshal to the Dowager Duchess Anna Eleonora at Herzberg Castle and Drost zu Ohsen. When Ernst August took office as Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in 1661, he appointed Hammerstein as his chamber councilor, court marshal and Drost of Iburg and Reckenberg and entrusted him with the government in the Osnabrück diocese and the administration of the chamber estate. In 1668 he became Privy Councilor and President of the Chamber. At times he was also Drost in Grönnenberg, Wittlage and Hunteburg.

Georg Christoph von Hammerstein was Ernst August's envoy on several occasions, for example in the negotiations that led to Ernst August's marriage to Sophie von der Pfalz in 1658. When Ernst August's brother Christian Ludwig died in 1665, this led to a succession dispute. Hammerstein was one of the envoys who negotiated the Hildesheim Recess, which settled the dispute between the Guelph brothers Ernst August, Georg Wilhelm and Johann Friedrich.

Hammerstein entered the service of Georg Wilhelm in 1671. He negotiated Lüneburg's alliance against Sweden with the Danish King Christian V, who was a nephew of the Guelphs through his mother Sophie Amalie. For this, Hammerstein was the first to be awarded the newly founded Order of the Dannebrog in 1671. Georg Wilhelm appointed him grand bailiff of his residence in Celle.

Hammerstein was married twice, first from 1656 to Anna, née. von Sehstedt (* 15. November 1624, † 22. March 1674). From this marriage came a son Alexander von Hammerstein († 1720 in Hanover), who became a Hanoverian officer, most recently a lieutenant general. The second wife was Anna Hedwig, née. von Penz (* 18. February 1652; † 16. August 1714). With her he had a son Georg Wilhelm von Hammerstein († 1738), who became a royal Prussian secret war councilor and remained unmarried, and two daughters: Charlotte Angelique (* 21. December 1678; † 5. Nov. 1752) that the colonel Levin Ludwig III. Hahn married, and Barbara Hedwig (* 1679; † 13. November 1760), who remained unmarried, received the Neuhof estate and therefore became known as the Miss von Neuhof. In 1755 she was a signatory of the state constitutional inheritance settlement.

Georg Christoph von Hammerstein inherited Equord and acquired numerous additional properties. In 1664 he acquired Gesmold Castle for the Schventorf and Ziehenburg estates through an exchange from Prince-Bishop Ernst August. These transactions were partly financed by the mother of his second wife, Barbara Hedwig, née. von Bülow, daughter of Curt von Bülow on Gartow and Stintenburg. Her first marriage was to Colonel Kuno Ulrich von Penz (1613–1653) at Melkhof and Langen-Heyda, and her second marriage was to the assessor at the Imperial Chamber Court, Heinrich Achilles von Buwinghausen-Walmerode (* 1613; † 1685 in Stuttgart).[ 5] Hammerstein bought and improved his estates with their money, including Stintenburg in 1683. When he died in 1687, however, he was left with a large debt of more than 135,000 thalers. To prevent bankruptcy, the widow's mother paid off all of her debts. Her daughter's unmarried stepson, Lieutenant General Alexander von Hammerstein, received a severance payment of 12,000 thalers for the assurance that he would waive any inheritance claims to the goods. His two brothers made the same commitment. In this way, the family's Equord properties were preserved and the three children from the second marriage were secured. She herself set up a fidei commission of her Lauenburg and Mecklenburg properties in favor of her grandson Georg Wilhelm von Hammerstein. The complex ownership relationships later led to lengthy inheritance disputes, especially since Georg Wilhelm von Hammerstein donated the goods to the King of Prussia against the wishes of his relatives.

Mausoleum in Equord: Georg Christoph von Hammerstein was buried in the mausoleum church in Equord, which was built at his request based on Italian models. However, the demanding construction was not completed until 1710.