“I liked the n***** for that; I tell you, gentlemen, a n***** like that is worth a thousand dollars – and kind treatment, too. I had everything I needed, and the boy was doing as well there as he would a done at home – better, maybe, because it was so quiet; but there I WAS, with both of ‘m on my hands, and there I had to stick till about dawn this morning; then some men in a skiff come by, and as good luck would have it the n***** was setting by the pallet with his head propped on his knees sound asleep; so I motioned them in quiet, and they slipped up on him and grabbed him and tied him before he knowed what he was about, and we never had no trouble.”
– Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 42. The white doctor who treated Tom is sticking up for Jim, who risks his freedom to help with Tom. But he still puts a monetary figure on him – a thousand dollars – like he was still a piece of property.