The R C Bell Collection of British Trade Tokens

Glamorganshire, Bonvilston, R.T. Samuel, 1898, bronzed-copper medal by R.J. Richardson for Wright & Son, Edgware, facing bust, reverse armorial bearings of the Samuel-Gibbon family, TRWY RHINWEDD A GONESTRWYDD [Through virtue and honesty], edge plain, 41mm (BHM 3634; Bell A1, and CC pp.304). Brilliant and practically as struck, very rare (£40-60)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The R C Bell Collection of British Trade Tokens.

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Bell, TT p.301.

Richard Thomas Samuel (1831-1906), author of the anonymous articles on tokens published in the Bazaar, Exchange and Mart between 1880 and 1889. He succeeded to estates at Bonvilston, Newton and Trecastle, Glamorganshire, in 1893; the significance of the date, 1898, is uncertain (Bell, BNJ 1963, pp.172-3), although it might reflect the 40th anniversary of his wedding to Elizabeth Mee. The latest published thinking (Bell, TT p.302), is that the medals of Samuel were all struck posthumously to the order of his family