Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 365 16 December 2015
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TOKENS, Middlesex. Political and Social Series. WM Token (33mm, 12.18 g, 12h). Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Obverse design after William Hackwood. Struck circa 1790. AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?, chained male slave kneeling right, raising hands in supplication / WHATSOEVER/ YE WOULD THAT/ MEN SHOULD DO/ TO YOU/ DO YE/ EVEN SO TO/ THEM. Eimer 836; BHM 269; D&H 237. EF, lustrous, light surface marks.
The obverse design was initially created by William Hackwood for Josiah Wedgewood and proved to be incredibly popular with the growing abolition movements both in Britain and the United States. This particular iteration of the kneeling-slave type was created for the short-lived Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, composed of a number of prominent Quaker abolitionists. While the Society itself ceased to meet in 1795, the individuals who comprised the abolition movement continued to campaign for their cause, leading to the Slave Trade Act of 1807, prohibiting the trade of slaves in the British empire, and eventually the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, completely banning the owning of slaves in the British empire.
The obverse design was initially created by William Hackwood for Josiah Wedgewood and proved to be incredibly popular with the growing abolition movements both in Britain and the United States. This particular iteration of the kneeling-slave type was created for the short-lived Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, composed of a number of prominent Quaker abolitionists. While the Society itself ceased to meet in 1795, the individuals who comprised the abolition movement continued to campaign for their cause, leading to the Slave Trade Act of 1807, prohibiting the trade of slaves in the British empire, and eventually the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, completely banning the owning of slaves in the British empire.