"The Brotherly Society" Silver Badge by Hester Bateman

This is an exceptionally rare silver badge or medal produced for The Brotherly Society by Hester Bateman.

The front of the badge shows two gentlemen shaking hands within a vignette surrounded by a garland of flowers and the society motto "Love and Unity", all referring to the Christian belief of brotherly love. The reverse side is beautifully engraved "TG" in script with flourishing serifs. The reverse is also clearly stamped with the maker's mark of Hester Bateman and the lion passant sterling silver mark. The piece pre-dates the addition of a duty mark that was introduced on 1st December 1784.

The Brotherly Society (later called the Christian Brotherly Society) was founded at Dr Rippon's Meeting House, Carter Lane, Tooley Street, Southwark in 1783. From the beginning the main purpose of the Society was to provide a weekly allowance to members during ill-health. The Society also paid sums of money at the death of members (or their wives) and during periods of hardship.

Dr. John Rippon (1751-1836) was an English baptist minister, best known for an important hymnal commonly known as Rippon's Selection. He prepared a work on saintly worthies interred at Bunhill Fields where he too was later buried.

The combination of the society founding and the silver stamps show this piece must date from 1783 or 1784 and may well have belonged to an inaugral member of the society. Hester Bateman's silversmithing workshop was on Bunhill Row adjacent to the previously mentioned Bunhill Fields and no doubt provides a link between client and silversmith.

Provenance: This piece is illustrated as 108/63 in "Tickets and Passes of Great Britain and Ireland" by W.J. Davis & A.W. Waters.