What does というもの mean here?


> 古書店の店主であるこの老人は、相手が誰であろうと笑顔 **というもの** をまったく見せない。

Am I missing some nuance here? What if I removed というもの? How would it change?




This might work as a very rough translation.

"The old gentleman and purveyor of second hand books was unacquainted with
that thing commonly known as a smile"

