Numismatists Tokens and Ephemera, WARWICKSHIRE, Birmingham, William Davis, illuminated Appreciations (2), by the Borough of Birmingham on behalf of the Health Committee, ‘that the best thanks of this Committee be given to the Chairmen of its Sub Committees – viz…Mr Councillor W.J. Davis, Chairman of the Finance Sub Committee…’, 19 October 1881, 30 October 1882, both signed by G.O. Smith, Town Clerk; together with a typed list of all the members of Birmingham Council, 1880/1; also three ALS to Josiah Cund, 81 Hockley Hill, Birmingham, November 1876, from J. Bennett on behalf of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Machinists &c, London SE, from Joseph Arch and from William Brinsley, regretting their absences from a complimentary dinner given for W.J. Davis to mark his return to the Birmingham School Board, two with original envelopes [6]. Appreciations very fine £40-£60

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tokens from the Late David Griffiths Collection.

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Provenance: Birmingham Ephemera associated with the late W.J. Davis, the property of a Lady, DNW Auction T7, 7 October 2009, lot 338.

William John Davis (1848-1934), trade unionist, numismatist and author of The Nineteenth Century Token Coinage; entered the brass trade as an apprentice, 1861, and worked in the Birmingham metal trade until 1882, including a spell with Ralph Heaton & Sons; elected first Secretary General of the National Society of Amalgamated Brassworkers, 1872, and held the post until 1882; town councillor of Birmingham, 1880; H.M. Inspector of Factories, Sheffield, 1883; rejoined the N.S.A.B. 1889; JP 1906; Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC, 1912. Davis’s principal collection of tokens, catalogued by himself and Arthur Waters, was sold at Sotheby’s in 1901; other groups of coins, medals and tokens were sold piecemeal by auction in several sales between 1906 and 1925. In 1921 he moved permanently from Birmingham and settled in Paris. His death occurred in October 1934. Josiah Cund was the honorary secretary of the Birmingham Labour Association