Banknotes

S.W.Fores No. 23, for Ge-up, Ge-ho, Hoyte and Co., 2 Pence, 1 October 1818, promising to pay ‘the Right Honble & Honble Members of the Four in Hand Club, or bearer, when his Majesty, in consideration of their transcendent merit, shall have placed the Reins of Government in their hands & when the Slang of the Stable shall have become a standard for Polite Conversation’, signed Prime Bang-up!! and Squire Groom, with a vignette showing a satyr with a whip and a spinning top, and the caption ‘I will both Vice & Folly lash, however high, while I’ve a Mind and Arm!’, about extremely fine £100-£150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Sir David Kirch Collection of Skit Notes.

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Collection

The Four in Hand Club was an elite group, usually of no more than 20 to 30 superb coachmen. This note appears to be little more than a joke, but perhaps there is some context that has been lost over time.