William Hamilton - William Hunter - 1781-08-21

William Hamilton

William Hamilton - William Hunter - 1781-08-21

FINA IDUnique ID of the page ^ᵖ	16519
InstitutionName of Institution.	Glasgow, Glasgow University
InventoryInventory number.
AuthorAuthor of the document.	William Hamilton
RecipientRecipient of the correspondence.	William Hunter
Correspondence dateDate when the correspondence was written: day - month - year .	August 21, 1781
PlacePlace of publication of the book, composition of the document or institution.
Associated personsNames of Persons who are mentioned in the annotation.	James Douglas
LiteratureReference to literature.	MacDonald 1899, p. xxix1, Brock 2008, vol. 2, p. 3432, Burnett 2020b, p. 1056 n. 4293
KeywordNumismatic Keywords ^ᵖ	Collection Price , Bronze , Roman , Aes Grave , Roman Imperial , Roman Republican , Collection Storage , Greek
LanguageLanguage of the correspondence	English
External LinkLink to external information, e.g. Wikpedia ^ᵖ

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Grand documentOriginal passage from the "Grand document".

'Having waited two or three Posts for an answer to my former Letter, I was under the necessity of giving an answer to the proprietor of the medals. Having reduced the original demand one half before I sent you the catalogue and encouraged by the approbation of Byres who happend to come to Naples I ventured to pay the money, 1800 Neapolitan Ducats which is about 333£ thinking that if you did not take them I might greatly oblige some collector in England for to the best of my judgement, this collection is nearly as good as that which I purchased for the late L^d Morton here for 800£. The great Bronze are in a cabinet very neatly arranged and the Imperial silver and family medals in another well arranged also. As I have realy no taste for medals except a few on account of the perfection of the coin this collection is absolutely of no use to me, and I cannot in conscience think of drawing upon you, as you are so good as to allow me, for what you are in no want of— yet as it will not be very convenient for me to be long out of my money as the ballance I fear is against me in my agent’s acc’ (Messrs. Gray & Ogilvie) I shall be much obliged to you if you cou’d find any one that wou'd take the collection as I had it. I am sure it is worth double the sum. I woud keep them here until a safe opportunity offerd to send them home. We have sometimes large Swedish vessels that go from hence directly to England and I believe in case of the war continuing they are the best. I shall be thankfull for the description of the Greek Coins and I hope I may be able to supply you with some having given a commission all over Sicily and Magna Grecia for well preserved coins. If you find a purchaser for this collection the sooner he pays into Messrs. Gray & Ogilvie’s hands on the Terras Spring garden, the sum £333—to be placed to my account, it will be the better for me as I pay 5 per cent. to them for what I have overdrawn.' (MacDonald 1899, p. xxix; Brock 2008, vol. 2, p. 343; Burnett 2020b, p. 1056 n. 429)

References

^ MacDonald, G. (1899) 'The Hunter Coin Cabinet', in id., A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, University of Glasgow, Volume 1, Glasgow, pp. ix-lx.
^ Brock, H. (2008) The Correspondence of Dr William Hunter, 1740-1783, 2 vols., London, Routledge.
^ Burnett, Andrew M. (2020), The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son.