Description
Cheshire, MACCLESFIELD, Roe & Co, (Westwood’s) bronzed AE Penny, 1790. Bust of Charles Roe right, rev. Seated figure of Industry holding drill and cog-wheel, edge plain, (DH 3). Good Extremely Fine, rev. better. Rare.
Ex. Spinks Dec. 1979; Ex. Myles Gerson Col. via Spinks 53, June 1986, lot16;
Ex. Siegfied Schwer c.1986.
Charles Roe (1715-81), entrepreneur in the silk and copper trades; as early as 1743 he had built his first waterpowered mill in the town and within two decades Macclesfield had become the nation’s main centre for silk production. The reverse design was taken from the monument to Roe in Christ Church, Macclesfield, the edifice he built in 1775. He died in May 1781 and left a widow, Rachel, and ten children.