Samuel Bentz(Mount Pleasant Artist, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1792-1850) - Birth certificate, hand-drawn watercolor and ink on wove paper, for Henrich Buch 1813, with central lower panel enclosing script under a detailed clock face and flanked by typical columns, arches, spheres, and geometric designs, executed in red and black with gilt highlights, inscribed verso "For 50 cents a piece you can have as much as you please. Mount Pleasant Printing Office. South Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania", over a drawing of a bird, 9 3/4" x 7 5/8"(the handwiring verso also appears to be Bentz's). This is a very fine example of Bentz's work. Pictured in Fraktur Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts by Dr. Donald Shelley, plate 222. The inscription on the backboard caused Dr. Shelley to name the artist, the Mount Pleasant Artist. For similar examples, see the cover of The Pennsylvania German, A Celebration of their Arts, 1683-1850 by Beatrice Garvan & Charles Hummel;