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The Penny of Scotland
by Smith,Adam
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
[SMITH, Adam].
The Penny of Scotland.
Boog junior des., P.Kempson fecit 1797
Penny Token, struck in bronze, 35mm in diameter, with portrait of Adam Smith after Tassie on the obverse, a scene on the reverse entitled Wealth of Nations depicting various symbols of agriculture, commerce and trade including a plough, a spinning-wheel, a wool-pack and a cask on a quay-side with two three-masted ships in the back ground sailing out of the harbour.
J.M.Gray, 'The Portraits of Adam Smith' in J.Bonar 'Catalogue of the Library of Adam Smith' 1894. Illustrated in Scott, Adam Smith as Student and Professor, 1937. Dalton & Hamer, Fifeshire no.1. Not in Vanderblue.The only other recorded portraits of Adam Smith before our penny token which we have been able to trace are the Tassie medallion of 1787, two etched portraits by John Kay of 1787 and 1790 and a 'very poor unsigned transcript in line' (Gray) after Tassie in the Scots Magazine of 1796.
A very fine example of the one ounce Penny of Scotland commemorating Adam Smith. The portrait of Adam Smith is after the Tassie medallion of 1787, which is described by John M.Gray in Bonar's Catalogue of the Library of Adam Smith 1932, p.xxi: "The head, which appears turned in pure profile to the right of the spectator, shows a particularly full forehead, a full nose, slightly aquiline in its curve; a long thin upper lip, and a lower lip that protrudes a little; and a firm, well-shaped chin and jaw. The eyebrow is strongly curved, the upper eyelid heavy and drooping, the eyeball particularly prominent; and beneath the lower eyelid the skin is loose and wrinkled. A wig is worn, tied behind in a bag with ribbons, showing small curls in front, and two large curls at the side which cover and conceal the ear".
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Details
- Seller
- Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
(GB)
- Seller's Inventory #
- b291
- Title
- The Penny of Scotland
- Author
- Smith,Adam
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Date Published
- 1797
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
Biblio member since 2014
Norwich, Norfolk
About Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
Obituary: Book dealer Hamish Riley-Smith (1941-2020), as published in The Antique Trade Gazette
Rare book specialist Hamish Riley-Smith, who died on August 10, did not originally intend to become a dealer.
He went to Trinity College Dublin, where he read economics and met our mother Brigitta (Gita) von Wagner. He planned to work in the family brewing business, John Smith's, and spent seven years learning the craft at Whitbread's. But after all the family interest in John Smith's was sold in 1972, he looked for a new career.
In 1974 he started Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books. He had no formal training in the book business, other than an acute awareness of business and a degree in economics. He started, in his own words, as a runner, taking one book to another dealer and making a small margin.
Hamish quickly realised this was not for him and started to focus on Arabic and economic books and the social sciences. Through knowledge and research he built up a strong and friendly working relationship with the Japanese, travelling to Japan often. He also traded in Arabia, the US and Europe.
Sacks of catalogues
We can remember how sacks of catalogues would leave the house and go off to museums and institutions across the world, and answers would come back via telex. This was a world before the internet, mobile phones and faxes and computers were only just coming in.
Among his proudest sales were the 14th century Qur'an manuscript of Mameluk Sultan Al Malik Al Nasir Muhammad (pictured here); The Papers of Sir Roy Harrod; The library of Sir John Hicks; The Betjeman Library; typescript/manuscript of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractus Logico Philosophicus; The Felibriges Library of Musée Theodore Aubanel, Avignon; as well as collections of Isaac Newton; John Locke; Thomas Hobbes; Shakespeare; William Petty; Robert Owen and Adam Smith.
He was resolute in his independence and had many friends and colleagues in the book business, but he never did a book fair ("I am not a book fairy") and refused to join any trade associations.
He will be remembered by the family as a loving husband, father and grandfather, and a great source of fun and interest; for Hamish, above all, family came first. His business will continue to be run by his wife Gita and two sons, Damian, director of Paragraph Publishing, and Crispian, director of Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd.
Rare book specialist Hamish Riley-Smith, who died on August 10, did not originally intend to become a dealer.
He went to Trinity College Dublin, where he read economics and met our mother Brigitta (Gita) von Wagner. He planned to work in the family brewing business, John Smith's, and spent seven years learning the craft at Whitbread's. But after all the family interest in John Smith's was sold in 1972, he looked for a new career.
In 1974 he started Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books. He had no formal training in the book business, other than an acute awareness of business and a degree in economics. He started, in his own words, as a runner, taking one book to another dealer and making a small margin.
Hamish quickly realised this was not for him and started to focus on Arabic and economic books and the social sciences. Through knowledge and research he built up a strong and friendly working relationship with the Japanese, travelling to Japan often. He also traded in Arabia, the US and Europe.
Sacks of catalogues
We can remember how sacks of catalogues would leave the house and go off to museums and institutions across the world, and answers would come back via telex. This was a world before the internet, mobile phones and faxes and computers were only just coming in.
Among his proudest sales were the 14th century Qur'an manuscript of Mameluk Sultan Al Malik Al Nasir Muhammad (pictured here); The Papers of Sir Roy Harrod; The library of Sir John Hicks; The Betjeman Library; typescript/manuscript of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractus Logico Philosophicus; The Felibriges Library of Musée Theodore Aubanel, Avignon; as well as collections of Isaac Newton; John Locke; Thomas Hobbes; Shakespeare; William Petty; Robert Owen and Adam Smith.
He was resolute in his independence and had many friends and colleagues in the book business, but he never did a book fair ("I am not a book fairy") and refused to join any trade associations.
He will be remembered by the family as a loving husband, father and grandfather, and a great source of fun and interest; for Hamish, above all, family came first. His business will continue to be run by his wife Gita and two sons, Damian, director of Paragraph Publishing, and Crispian, director of Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd.
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Collecting and identifying signed letters and holographic documents
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Collecting Classic Supernatural Fiction
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