The Norman G Brodie Collection of Scottish Medals

Scottish Historical Medallions, right of way on the banks of the clyde vindicated, obverse “The reward of public spirit, the citizens of Glasgow to Adam Ferrie, Geo Rodgers, Jas Duncan, Ind.Watson Junr, Indd Whitehead for successfully defending their right to a path on the banks of the clyde 1829 (in 12 lines), reverse armed knight, one foot on a recumbent figure, presenting sword to Scotia standing left, justice james with scroll inscribed defend your rights, river god seated in foreground (not in BHM or cp), in silver glazed frame, lunettes both sides, with suspension loop, cased, silver, 45mm. Almost as struck, extremely rare (£300-450)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman G Brodie Collection of Scottish Medals.

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Sold with futher photocopied documents.
The “Right of Way on the Banks of the Clyde Vindicated” medal, also known as the “Harvey Dyke Medal” is the most important of the local historical medals. It was struck after a protracted legal battle to commemorate this historic event which permitted freedom and right of way along the banks of the river Clyde. A full account of the events leading up to and including the trial is reported in John Tweed’s ‘Glasgow Ancient and Modern’ (Div. III. pp 782-812) and is also included in Peter Mackenzie’s ‘ Old Reminisces of Glasgow’ (Chapter xxxvi pp428-458).
The silver medal is unpublished and the only example seen is the above lot purchased at Christies Glasgow in 1982. The bronze example is equally rare, only one having been sighted in the last twenty years, which is present in this collection, see previous lot.
The litigation on rights of way was the forerunner of many cases and is still a very contentious issue to this day.
See Front cover colour illustration