BRITISH COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, Great Britain, Charles II, Sir Samuel Morland, Silver Medal, 1681,

BRITISH COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, Great Britain, Charles II, Sir Samuel Morland, Silver Medal, 1681, by John Roettier, laureate bust of Charles II with flowing hair, rev legend IN ADVERSIS SVMMO VITAE PERICVLO IN PROPERIS FELICI INGENIO FREQVENS ADFVIT, lettered edge, SAMVEL MORLANDVS EQ QVR ET BAR, 33mm (MI I 582/257). Darkly toned, very fine with MI number 257 stuck to the reverse. Sir Samuel Morland (1625-1695), diplomatist, mathematician and inventor. The medals are said to have been struck by Morland after his appointment as ‘Master of Mechanics’, and were dedicated to the King. In old age he went blind and invented a machine for writing, and a mechanical calendar of sorts, as well as a pumping system to water his garden. bought Spink, April 1908, and believed ex Helen Farquhar Collection (whose habit it was to stick numbers on gummed paper onto her medals).