Owner Comments:
Middlesex Spence DH #713
Obverse: Advertising for Thomas Spence's bookstore. Under a radiation T SPENCE BOOKSELLER DEALER * IN PRINTS . & . COINS in 7 lines, surrounded by LITTLE TURN STILE NO. 8 HOLBORN LONDON
Reverse: A sailor standing wearing a hat, waistcoat, jacket and trousers and smoking a pipe. He holds a stick under his right arm, his left arm outstretched holding a begging bowl A TRUE HEARTED SAILOR with JAMES beneath the sailor
Edge: SPENCE X DEALER X IN X COINS X LONDON X
Diesinker: Charles James
Manufacturer: Thomas Spence
Rarity: Common
There were no pensions for men invalided out of the navy or army and the sight of a injured ex-serviceman compelled to beg on the street must have been common.
Often referred to as the first socialist, Thomas Spence was born in 1750 in Newcastle-upon Tyne and was an English radical, advocating for common ownership of the land and equality of the sexes. He was one of the leading revolutionaries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He left Newcastle for London in 1787 and had a book shop ‘The Hive of Liberty’ at 8 Little Turnstile, High Holborn. He published a weekly tabloid “Pigs Meat, or Lessons for the Swinish Multitude, Collected by the Poor Man’s Advocate” where he advocated for reforms. He was a member of the London Corresponding Society and was imprisoned multiple times. He spent 7 months in Newgate Goal in 1794 charged with high treason and 12 months in 1801 for seditious libel. He died in London on 8 September 1814.
One of Thomas Spence's many political tokens.
Atkins: Middlesex 546
Davisson Sale #30, 11 October 2011