Back

Scotland - 1797

Perth halfpenny

Obverse:

A man dragging a fishing net to the shore, a boat lying on the beach.

Legend:

RETE TRAHITO FAUSTE.

Exergue:

WRIGHT JUN.R DES.

Edge:

PAYABLE ON DEMAND BY JOHN FERRIER +++++

Reverse:

A bridge, and distant view of hills.

Legend:

PERTH HALFPENNY

Exergue:

TAY BRIDGE FINISH-ED 1770. The arms of Perth in a sunk circle and motto PRO REGE LEGE ET GREGE.

Vern's Comments:

BELL

N^o 1 D&H 1

PERTH Ferrier, J.
   Obverse :- fisherman hauling a net ashore with three fish on the bank at his feet, and a rowboat lying on the beach to the right. Legend :- RETE TRAHIT0 FAUSTE with WRIGHT JUN.R DES in the exergue.
   Reverse :- view of a bridge with hills in the background. Below the bridge, within a sunken circular space, are the Armorial Bearings of the city of Perth. (A double-headed eagle displayed, bearing on its breast a shield charged with a holy lamb passant regardant) and Motto: Pro Rege Lege et Grege. Legend :- PERTH HALFPENNY 1797 with TAY BRIDGE FINISHED 1770 in the exergue.
   Edge :- PAYABLE ON DEMAND BY JOHN FERRIER + + +
Diesinker, Willets ; manufacturer, Kempson. Five cwts. struck. Common.
There is a variety, D&H 2-3, with the date 1797 omitted.

Comments. John Ferrier was a hosier in Perth.
   The obverse shows a fisherman with his boat beached hauling in his net, and this method of catching salmon is still in common use on the Tweed.
   The reverse presents a view of the ten-arched bridge across the Tay, at Perth; a fine stone structure some nine hundred feet long and twentytwo feet wide within the parapets, built at a cost of £26,000 from designs by John Smeaton. For the armorial bearings see Comments re Perthshire No. 2.
   This is another of James Wright's designs, and again he used the sunken space of which he was a great admirer, and of which he wrote in the Edinburgh Magazine New Series, vol. 7 pp. 131-5 : "The origin of this beautiful invention seems to be from the hand of Dupré, a Parisian artist. in his fine Medaille que se vend cinq sols chez Monneron struck on the first general aera of the French Revolution in 1790."

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 247-248

Scotland — Perthshire

D & H 3 — Perth

Bell Pg: 266-267

O: A man dragging a fishing net to the shore, a boat lying on the beach. RETE TRAHITO FAUSTE. Ex : WRIGHT JUN.R DES.

A. 3

R: A bridge, and distant view of hills. PERTH HALFPENNY 1797. Ex: TAY BRIDGE FINISH-ED 1770. The arms of Perth in a sunk circle and motto PRO REGE LEGE ET GREGE.

E: PAYABLE ON DEMAND BY JOHN FERRIER +++++

Perth halfpenny