OK, I’ll admit this, I’m a soft touch when it comes to buying old documents and invoices of Blantyre traders. Like this one from John Hastie, the ironmonger of High Blantyre. I bought this recently, (only for a couple of pounds), but it felt a good buy, bringing back an invoice close to where it was issued. This is dated 3rd April 1894, and being 127 years old, was another reason, i felt I got “a good deal.”

Genuine Invoices like these are more common than you would perhaps think. Somebody spent £7, 15 shillings and sixpence in this one transaction. That’s about £1,200 in today’s money, a significant sum which is perhaps why it was kept. The customer was William Dixon and the items bought include lamps, spades of various types, felt, metal files, nails for slates, brushes, chalk and more.

I’ve not research John Hastie in any detail (yet!), so it’s unknown to me if he was the same John Hastie who was the son of David Hastie of Stonefield Farm.