John Law. The Year of Want, 1720. B.124, B.VI. Unsigned. Silver. 32.3 mm. 163.2 gns. Obverse: Law's half-length figure (same die as the preceding). Reverse: Inscription in 15 lines of doggerel Latin and Dutch verse, date in chronogram. Choice Extremely Fine. Neither C. Wyllys nor Benjamin Betts had seen a copy of this medal and both relied on Alexi's description for their own. This would explain how they both published LIB'ROS for LIB'ROSS in the fifth line. Both Betts worried over the curious break across the 13th and 15th lines that separated PECVNIA. C. Wyllys, as was his wont, read into it hidden meanings critical of Law. Benjamin more wisely just noted that the break would not have been accidental. The cataloguer dares to suggest the mistake might simply have been one of transcription, NOS in the 14th line being a mistake for an intended NIA. The hyphen at the end of PECV and the one at the beginning of NIA show the engraver's awareness of the break and was his way of fixing it.
Ex ''Million Dollar Sale'' (Harmer, Rooke, November 17, 1969, lot 327), Ted Craige Estate on October 4, 1982. Believed to have been ex Brand.
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