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Am I Not A Man And A Brother? Looking for info. on the inclosed photo'ed metal
braddick
Posts: 23,228 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've seen these in copper but never in a white metal. Does anyone have any info. regarding these neat medals?
Thanks!
(The NGC insert doesn't tell me what I want to know...)
Are these scarce? Rare?
Thanks!
(The NGC insert doesn't tell me what I want to know...)
Are these scarce? Rare?
peacockcoins
0
Comments
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Collecting:
Conder tokens
19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
CONDER TOKEN. Anti-slavery copper halfpenny (29mm.) manufactured in the 1790s by Lutwyche.
Shackled black slave in loin-cloth, kneeling with the legend - 'AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER' and on the other side - two clasped hands with the legend - ' MAY SLAVERY & OPPRESSION CEASE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD'. Around the edge is the legend 'PAYABLE AT DUBLIN CORK OR BELFAST.'
In 1783 British Quakers created 'An Association for the Relief and Liberation of Negro Slaves in the West Indies'. The leading protagonist in Parliament was William Wilberforce and as a member of parliament and a friend of William Pitt he pushed for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
In 1787 he he joined in setting up in London a committee for the 'Abolition of the Slave Trade in the West Indies' which exposed to the House of Commons the horrors and evil of this activity. In 1807 a bill prohibiting British merchants from selling slaves to foreign colonies and prohibiting the importation of slaves into British possessions was passed - although it did not have much effect until 1811 when another bill was adopted - making slave trading a criminal offence. At this time the Royal Navy took action against slavers and eventually there was some progress, although not over night.
In 1823 Wilberforce vice-chaired the Anti Slavery Society - an organisation formed to achieve the liberation of all slaves in British possessions. Progress was slow but eventually in August 1833 the Abolition Act was passed - freeing all slaves and compensating slave owners from the British Treasury.
This coin was made by Lutwyche for one of the early anti-slavery groups in the 1790s who, realising the propaganda potential of circulating coins, issued this copper halfpenny to spread far and wide their message and call up people to this worthy cause.
<< <i>I've seen these in copper but never in a white metal. Does anyone have any info. regarding these neat medals?
Thanks!
(The NGC insert doesn't tell me what I want to know...)
Are these scarce? Rare? >>
Yes they are scarce, but I read that congress was thinking of using this design for a new commemorative coin for the upcoming tax re structuring plan...... only changing the motto on back to say: Your tax dollars at work !
Under the man in shackles: " U.S. Citizen"
peacockcoins
The first and most identifiable image of the 18th century abolitionist movement was a kneeling African man.
Members of the Society of Friends, informally known as Quakers, were among the earliest leaders of the abolitionist movement in Britain and the Americas. By the beginning of the American Revolution, Quakers had moved from viewing slavery as a matter of individual conscience, to seeing the abolition of slavery as a Christian duty.
Quakers, who believe in simplicity in all things, tended to view the arts as frivolous; but when the Quaker-led Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade met in London in 1787, three of its members were charged with preparing a design for "a Seal [to] be engraved for the use of this Society."
Later that year, the society approved a design "expressive of an African in Chains in a Supplicating Posture." Surrounding the naked man was engraved a motto whose wording echoed an idea widely accepted during the Enlightenment among Christians and secularists: "Am I Not A Man and A Brother?" The design was approved by the Society, and an engraving was commissioned.
The design was symbolic both artistically and politically. In addition to evoking classical art, the figure's nudity signified a state of nobility and freedom, yet he was bound by chains. Black figures, usually depicted as servants or supplicants, typically knelt in the art of the period, at a time when members of the upper classes did not kneel when praying; this particular image combined the European theme of conversion from heathenism and the idea of emancipation into a posture of gratitude.
Josiah Wedgewood, who was by then a member of the Society, produced the emblem as a jasper-ware cameo at his pottery factory. Although the artist who designed and engraved the seal is unknown, the design for the cameo is attributed to William Hackwood or to Henry Webber, who were both modelers at the Wedgewood factory.
In 1788, a consignment of the cameos was shipped to Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, where the medallions became a fashion statement for abolitionists and anti-slavery sympathizers. They were worn as bracelets and as hair ornaments, and even inlaid with gold as ornaments for snuff boxes. Soon the fashion extended to the general public.
That same year, the image also appeared in London on the covers of a pamphlet addressed to Parliament and a book about a voyage to Guinea, presumably with the Society's approval.
Although the intent and the effect of the emblem was to focus public opinion on the evils of the African slave trade, its ultimate effect was to underscore the perception of black inferiority. The supplicant posture of blacks persisted as a standard feature of Western art long after slavery was abolished.
Ironically, although the image became the emblem of the anti-slavery movement, the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was emphatic that its only goal was the abolition of the slave trade, not of slavery itself. That position was vigorously protested by individual members such as Granville Sharp, the most influential abolitionist of his time.
Edited to add: The silver pieces have been copied...beware of uncertified fakes.
ABC
Conder Token Gallery https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMCiunai6NjOxoo3zREkCsAnNm4vONzieO3u7tHyhm8peZmRD_A0MXmnWT2dzJ-nw?key=Rlo2YklUSWtEY1NWc3BfVm90ZEUwU25jLUZueG9n
The same theme was also produced in a halpenny size using the same obverse design and the common Quaker symbol of clasped hands on the reverse with a plea to end slavery and oppression around the world. D&H 1037 - 1039. There are many edge varieties of these pieces (19 of them) and 11 of them are rate from scarce to extremely rare.
A single farthing variety uses the kneeling slave design and inscription but it is most likely not part of the efforts of the first group. It is an issue by Thomas Spence and the other side refers to HIS imprisonment by the state in 1794. In sense he has co-opted their freedom plea for his own purposes.
The design, with modifications, was adopted by the American abolitionist movement in 1837 and used on hard times tokens over here. The one major difference being that while the British tokens depict a male slave, all but one of the hard times token varieties show a female and the inscription reads Am I not A Woman and A Sister. I do not know the rarities of the hard times token varieties but I do know the single variety with the male slave is at least scarce.