The Collection of Wiltshire Coins, Tokens and Paranumismatica formed by the late David Ward

Historical Medals, A Halfpenny-sized blank, planed flat and engraved with a man hanging from a gibbet, i curtis hung in chains near sarum mar 14, 1768 divided by base of gibbet, rev. for the murder of wolf myers around dec 28 1767, 27mm, 6.00g/8h (cf. Woolley & Wallis 19.x.2016, 70). Very fine, rare £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Wiltshire Coins, Tokens and Paranumismatica formed by the late David Ward.

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Suspected of the brutal murder of a Jewish pedlar, Wolf Meyer, on 28 December 1767, sailor John Curtis was tracked to his ship, H.M.S. Achilles, then berthed in Gosport. Brought back to Salisbury he was convicted and hanged, and his body was then suspended in chains near the scene of the murder.

The Salisbury & Winchester Journal recorded at the time that in late January 1768, partially covered by snow, “the body of a person who had been most barbarously murdered, was found thrown into a pit...about two miles from [Salisbury]...round the head lay several large flint stones; and not far from the place...the blade of a large knife...there appeared to be a large fracture in the skull, a deep and mortal stab in the lower part of the belly from the groin upwards...Upon enquiry he appeared to be a travelling Jew, Woolfe by name...” Meyer had left Salisbury for Coombe on 28 December and later that day Curtis arrived in the city claiming to have been attacked and robbed on the Blandford road. Treated in the local infirmary, he was discharged to his ship on 4 January. The coroner decided the coincidence of the two events was suspicious and issued a warrant for Curtis’s arrest. Apprehended aboard H.M.S. Achilles and found in possession of various incriminating items including a pedlar's box and handbills advertising silverware for sale similar to those found in Meyer’s pocket, he was tried, found guilty and “executed for murder...and afterwards hung in irons, on a gibbet which is erected for that purpose, near the place where he committed the murder, which is on the road-side, about a quarter of a mile on this side Coombe turn-pike gate”. John Curtis (or possibly Curtel or Courtine "a Portugeze [sic]") was 27 years of age and denied his guilt to the last. Several other pieces commemorating the event exist